The takeaway system of the future?

– In Aarhus, we had a growing waste problem. When we started looking for a solution to this, we discovered that 48 percent of our waste was takeaway packaging, says Simon Rossau, project manager for Circular Packaging Systems in Aarhus Municipality.

Eleven different companies submitted bids to carry out a pilot project in collaboration with the municipality, and in the end, it was the Norwegian company Tomra that won. The company shares the municipality's vision for the city and presented the best reuse solution, says Rossau.

En ny type pantesystem

Med delvis finansiering fra Handelens Miljøfond, samarbeidet Aarhus kommune og Tomra med flere selskaper som tilbyr takeaway-mat og drikke, og i januar 2024 lanserte de et helt nytt system for gjenbruksemballasje i Aarhus.

René Jørgensen, plassjef hos Tomra, forklarer pantesystemet slik:

– Når du kjøper en kaffe i en gjenbrukbar kopp fra en av våre partnere, betaler du et pant på fem kroner. Når du er ferdig med å drikke kaffen, kan du skanne en QR-kode for å se et kart over våre panteautomater. Du plasserer deretter koppen i automaten og skanner kortet ditt for å få tilbake de fem kronene.

Det neste steget i kretsløpet er at en Tomra-ansatt kommer for å tømme automaten og ta koppene til rengjøringsanlegget, forklarer Jørgensen.

– Der vasker vi koppene og utfører bakterietester, før de pakkes om og leveres tilbake til våre partnere. Og så fortsetter kretsløpet.

Se pantesystemet i praksis her:

Exceeding All Expectations

Since the project's inception, Tomra has distributed over 600,000 reusable cups, reducing the amount of plastic packaging sent for incineration by ten tons.

– There’s no doubt that we’re reducing the amount of waste in our city through this project, says Rossau.

He refers to the nearly 100,000 cups that Aarhus Municipality cleaned out of the river last year. This year, they’ve only found one of their reusable cups among the waste. Rossau says that the results, as well as feedback from both consumers and partners, have exceeded all expectations.

– People appreciate that Aarhus is doing something different, he says.

Aarhus Street Food has been the main partner for the project, and bar manager Stephen Harris claims the response has been 99.9 percent positive.

– The customers are extremely happy. They don’t see the deposit system as a hindrance; both staff and customers feel they’re doing something good and contributing to the green transition.

Huge potential

Project manager Rossau believes that introducing the deposit system to other cities is a "no-brainer".

– In an international context, this project has enormous potential. We are in dialogue with cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Tokyo. To put it into perspective, Tokyo has 40,000 coffee shops, while Aarhus only has around 100.

He believes that the threshold for introducing it in Scandinavian cities is lower, as we are already accustomed to deposit systems for plastic bottles. In Norway, over 90 percent of bottles sold are returned for recycling.

– We use far, far too many packaging products, and we can easily reduce that by using the system we’ve built here in Aarhus, Rossau concludes.