Deposit instead of garbage at Golf am Donner Kleve
“Deposit instead of garbage” – whoever sets out for a round of golf at Golf am Donner Kleve in the Schleswig-Holstein Golf Association and doesn’t want to give up his coffee-to-go, is handed a Recup cup and has to pay a one-euro deposit. The golf course from Schleswig-Holstein joined the Germany-wide Recup deposit system some time ago and strictly follows the motto “Return Reuse Repeat”.
Disposable cups no longer up to date
“Actually, the initiative for this came from our members,” notes Ulrike Ringert as one of the owners of the golf course. “With the paper cups, which always ended up in the trash, we kept hearing the comment that it wasn’t contemporary.” The management at Golf am Donner Kleve took up the issue and joined Recup. Now the golf club can be found on Recup’s large information posters, which features relevant Recup stations in the region, alongside gas stations, coffee roasters, cafes and other businesses. The reusable cups can be refilled with coffee at any of the stations, but can also be returned there for a deposit.
Recup also for cake and food
“The Recup cup is very well received, people take it with them on their rounds and return it to us afterwards,” reports Ulrike Ringert. In addition, the Recup system has now also found its way into takeaway food, where it is also attracting numerous supporters. “The bowls are also used, for example, when cake is bought,” is the balance. The deposit price in this case is three euros. The deposit system on the golf course is not to be missed: the amount of waste has been reduced.
Paper cups mostly end up in residual waste
The latter is still a problem on many golf courses. Although the golf catering industry has now also switched to more environmentally friendly alternatives in line with the July 1, 2021 ban on single-use plastic, disposable paper cups usually end up in a dustbin and are not sorted and recycled. This is difficult anyway due to a thin plastic layer in most paper cups. For this reason alone, switching to reusable cups is at least a first way to reduce the amount of waste.
