As part of a drive toward a green revolution, Surrey County Cricket Club and the Kia Oval in southwest London have announced a new commitment deal to stock reusable plastic drinking cups to reduce plastic waste at the ground.
Fans who purchase a beer at a game will now be required to pay a £1 (US$1.4) deposit for their beverage, which will be served in a Stack-Cup – a handled drinking vessel emblazoned with the club’s logo – to encourage customers to return to the bar with that same cup. This will replace the previous single-use cups, which are thrown into a bin or discarded on the ground after use.
When the customer wants another beer, the used cup is traded for a clean one for each drink, and when finished they can either hand the cup back to reclaim their £1 (US$1.4) deposit or take the cup home as a souvenir.
With approximately 1.2 million pints of lager and ales being sold at the Kia Oval each year the launch of the reusable Stack-Cups could lead to a huge saving in plastic waste. It joins initiatives already in place at the venue including the banning of plastic straws and plastic bags and the introduction of compostable coffee cups and the recycling of coffee grounds into biofuel.
“Since we first brought them to the Kia Oval in 2015, we have found reusable pint cups to be an effective part of our plan to reduce our use of single-use plastic while providing a memorable fan experience,” said Richard Gould, chief executive of SCCC.
“Reducing our environmental impact is important to us and this agreement with Stack-Cup saves us from sending hundreds of thousands of plastic cups to landfill sites every year.”
April 25, 2018
