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Impact
Written by Rachel Burke – General Manager at bettercup
Australians are producing a staggering 3 billion single use cups annually with the events industry being a major contributor. With bans in 2 states confirmed and more to follow, it’s the last round for single use cups at festivals. Without strategic and financial support, however, the switch to reusables could be disastrous for the future of Australian festivals.
Despite the events industry showing promising post-COVID recovery, festivals remain particularly volatile. The cancellation of mainstay festivals like Falls Festival and Groovin the Moo, and the pause of Dark Mofo, signals a concerning trend.
Low and slow ticket sales, skyrocketing insurance and extreme weather events have many festivals on the brink of financial viability or already beyond it.
It has been our experience that the majority of festival organisers want to reduce their environmental impact but few can afford to implement initiatives like reusable cups. When the cost of an environmental initiative is the difference between a festival going ahead or being cancelled, the choice is obvious.
Without proactive support in place, single use bans will disproportionately penalise the small players. It will be your local community jazz weekend or the regional music and arts festival that disappear next when they can’t afford to comply with single use bans.
The risk is high: a thriving events ecosystem needs diversity but we are staring down the barrel of festival homogenisation: the same acts, label, promoter, venues, beverage companies and even the reusable cups owned under one monopolised umbrella.
We have time to prevent this. If local, state and federal governments commit more funding in advance of further bans, the circular economy industry is poised to close the gap between policy and the costly realities of early implementation.
By targeting funds to cover the upfront expenses, events can adopt reusable options without risking their financial viability. This could include reduced event licence fees for sustainability initiatives, simplified grant applications and awareness campaigns for the funding that is already available.
Subsidies for waste sorting and recycling could be tied to meeting waste diversion targets. An estimated 98% of waste can be diverted from landfill with better systems, but the up front cost is often too high for an already suffering industry.
We’ve seen some events enthusiastically switch to reusables only to experience low cup return rates and deem the reusable system not viable.
Funding unlocks capacity for events to refine their reuse system over time, knowing they are financially supported during the transition.
Taking a systems approach includes having a clear, consistent reuse message from ticket purchase and social media to bin signage. Collaborating with each event to develop a flexible logistics plan considering collections, sorting and washing; plus effective controls like deposit systems, staff training and more will ensure the switch to reusable cups becomes an environmental policy success story.
The events that survive the switch to reusables will be those that build a reuse system early, but ultimately this is only the events that can afford to do so.
This article has been written and published thanks to the generous support of Green Industries SA (GISA) as part of the Festival City Adelaide Climate Action Roadmap project, funded by GISA through its Lead-Educate-Assist-Promote (LEAP) grant program.
