During the Eleventh of the Eleven, carnival celebrants in Den Bosch do not drink beer from disposable plastic cups, but from returnable cups. Anyone who orders at the bar pays an extra 50 cents for the hardcup. “That plastic disposable cup is so bad for the environment. We have to stop that”, says owner of Stadsherberg ‘t Pumpke, Otto van Groenendaal.
During the Elfde van de Elfde, a large stack of hard cups is ready behind the bar at all pubs. In the city center of Bossche, where the opening of the carnival season will be celebrated next Friday, there will be no plastic disposable cups anywhere outside.
“You see the hard cups more often at festivals or smaller events. We now want to test whether the system also works during major events such as carnival,” says Bernard Kuenen, chairman of Royal Horeca Nederland Den Bosch and owner of café da Silva.
Van Groenendaal adds: “Normally it is a lot easier to organize something like this, because it concerns a closed festival site. During a major event in public space, every pub has to participate in the system. Otherwise it will certainly fail.” That is why Bossche cafés and pubs only receive a permit for 11-11 if they participate in the trial.
“Those mountains of plastic waste after an event, that is really no longer possible.”
An advantage of the trial is that the carnival celebrants no longer stumble over the huge mountain of plastic that is lying on the street. “After every event in Den Bosch, the entire city center is full. That is really no longer possible. We have to think about the environment”, says the owner of ‘t Pumpke. “The deposit cups are now only mandatory outside, so inside you still get your beer from a plastic disposable cup or glass.”
“As an entrepreneur, you are very afraid that there are not enough deposit cups.”
After months of preparation, the deposit cups were brought to the Bossche city center this week. “We first supplied 90,000 cups to the catering industry. But as an entrepreneur you are of course afraid that there are too few deposit cups. So 70,000 extra cups are ready on two squares in the city center. So a total of 160,000 hard cups are ready,” says Mark Goossens, owner and supplier of DrinkCup.
Each catering company has indicated in advance how many cups they want to rent. Because every business participates in the trial, visitors everywhere can exchange their deposit cup.
“If you order a new drink and you hand in your cup, then of course you don’t pay a deposit. But if you lose your cup or throw it on the floor, you can buy a new cup outside for 50 cents,” says Goossens.
“The hard cups are a lot cheaper than the plastic disposable cups.”
Most catering entrepreneurs are hopeful. “It is easier for the employees to quickly tap a beer in such a cup. That way you have your beer faster,” says Kuenen with a smile. “And it’s a lot cheaper than buying plastic cups.”
But there are also disadvantages for entrepreneurs. “We have to rinse all cups that are returned. That costs time and extra staff. And the colleagues who have an outdoor bar without a sink have to come up with a solution.”
After the Eleventh of the Eleventh, the entrepreneurs, the municipality and DrinkCup will evaluate the results of the trial. If it is positive, Oeteldonkers will only drink from a deposit cup in the future.
