There seemed to be no alternative to single-use at festivals: high throughput, time pressure, thousands of users. At the Fairground Festival in Hanover, „Throw'n'Go“, a fully digital reusable deposit system from Tomra Reuse, was used for the first time.
Around 20,000 guests turned the operation into a real-life stress test under high-load conditions. The „Throw'n'Go“ system fully digitises the purchase and return of drinks cups. This included reusable cups with integrated RFID chip identification, 100 digital bar connections (Tomra Bar Plates) for automatic deposit collection and 15 return stations spread across the festival site.
A deposit of two euros was charged per cup. The deposit was directly linked to the admission wristbands issued at the festival. Payment and deposit refunds were fully automatic and digital.
Alternatively, guests could use an ordering app to pay for drinks and get the deposit for the cups back. What both solutions have in common is that deposit fraud can be ruled out. The cups only have a value if the deposit has been paid beforehand.
Throw'n'Go in practice
No sorting or queuing was necessary for the return: the used cups were simply thrown into the Tomra return stations and the deposit was immediately transferred back to the admission wristbands as credit. The results were immediately apparent during operation: cleaner halls, shorter queues, a more fluid drinks service at the bars and less waste overall. At the same time, the organisers received a central overview of cup circulation, deposit processes and returns in real time and over the entire festival period.
„When it comes to reusable packaging, organisers are faced with the challenge of combining sustainability requirements with smooth event operations. The use at the Fairground Festival shows the potential of digital deposit systems. Reusable systems only realise their full potential when they work under real conditions: with time pressure, high throughput and many users. It is precisely these scalable approaches that we are currently driving forward in European pilot cities - from Aarhus and Berlin to Lisbon as the first capital city with such a reusable system.“
Sven Hennebach, Senior Manager Tomra Reuse.
Tomra Reuse is active throughout Europe and has already implemented reusable systems at other events - including the Øya Festival and the Intility Arena in Oslo. In Germany, Tomra Reuse is also represented with a pilot project in Berlin. The company also operates city-wide reuse systems in cities such as Aarhus (Denmark) and Lisbon (Portugal).
Source: Tomra
