Reusable cup 'changes the game' for festivals

Festival goers show off their reusable Globelets at the 2014 Splore festival. Photo / Supplied

When Ryan Everton's French girlfriend asked him why Kiwi festivals didn't provide reusable cups, Everton decided he would start producing them himself. They had them in France, his girlfriend told him, so why did New Zealand which was "such a green country" still provide one-use cups to festival-goers?

Three years on and Everton's Christchurch based company, Value Road, is producing 70,000 reusable polypropylene 'Globelets' a year.

In 2014, eco-conscious arts and music weekend Splore was the first New Zealand festival to use the Globelet. Recently named one of the world's 36 greenest festivals, the move saw Splore reduce its 55,000 recyclable one-use cups to 11,000 reusable cups as a result.

Everton said the aim of the Globelet to reduce waste but also to incentivise and "engage people so they start thinking about their environmental footprint".

Festival-goers pay $2 for the cup when they buy their first drink and then are able to reuse it at any other drink station at the festival. If they return it at the end of the event they get their $2 back and it is then reused - although Everton said many people like to keep the festival branded-cup as a souvenir.

"I didn't really know how they would go when I started but it has become its own little brand in itself," he said.

"It's amazing that a cup can create such a difference - It's such a small thing. But it changes the game."

Taranaki Festival Womad would be using the cups for the first time this year too, Everton said.

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