reuseable in aarhus, denmark: 1.8 million cups, 88% return rate
Why Europe's reuse leaders are flocking to Aarhus
What does a city that has cracked the reuse puzzle actually look like? Recently, 80 of Europe's leading sustainability experts traveled to Denmark to find out — and what they found promises to accelerate plans across the continent.
Reusable packaging at city scale has long been dismissed as idealistic — too complex, too dependent on behavioral change, too hard to make commercially viable. The REUSEABLE Aarhus system, operational since January 2024, is a direct rebuttal to many of those objections.
In early March this year, around 80 delegates from across Europe gathered in Aarhus as part of Zero Waste Europe's field trip to Denmark, a country taking concrete steps toward a national reuse mandate. The delegates represented over a dozen cities and municipalities, including Amsterdam, Barcelona, Brussels and Paris, alongside NGOs, EU-funded projects, solution providers, and reuse policy experts.
In the beginning, visitors saw the seamless experience almost as science fiction. Now we see that visitors are savvy: they know what is required, what the pain points are, and have very specific questions. Cities are prepared to make the decisions to take this forward.
From science fiction to city policy: How the Aarhus system works
The Aarhus system is an end-to-end reusable takeaway packaging infrastructure, built around three components working in concert:
- Public reverse vending machines (RVMs)
About 25 automated return points are placed at high-footfall public locations across inner-city Aarhus. Users tap their payment card or smart device, place used cups into the machine, and receive the deposit fee on the cups directly back to their account. No app or registration required.
- Central sanitization hub
All collected cups are transported to TOMRA's industrial cleaning facility on the outskirts of central Aarhus for cleaning, quality assurance and redistribution. Each cup's rotation is tracked in full, ensuring performance transparency and system integrity.
- Municipal partnership
Aarhus Municipality is a core co-owner of the system — providing the political mandate, public infrastructure access, and shared accountability that makes city-wide adoption possible.
Seeing the system in Aarhus firsthand is very different from just reading about it. In Amsterdam, we are preparing for a pilot on reusable packaging. It looks like we can ban disposables completely — but taking such a decision requires political willingness and the availability of a credible alternative.
What makes Aarhus replicable — and what cities need to know
REUSEABLE Aarhus was designed from the outset not just to work in Aarhus, but to work as a blueprint. Nathan Dufour, Reuse Systems Manager at Zero Waste Europe, was direct about why Denmark was chosen for the field trip:
Aarhus and Copenhagen represent two of the most mature city-wide ecosystems for reusable takeaway packaging. Denmark is a frontrunner in Europe as it is taking steps to mandate reuse on a national level.
For cities considering a similar system, the Aarhus experience surfaces four replicable conditions:
What a city-wide reuse system requires from a municipality
- Political commitment to mandate or strongly incentivize participation
- Access to public infrastructure for collection point placement
- A co-funding or cost-sharing model for system setup and operations
- Willingness to engage businesses as partners, not just compliance targets
What TOMRA Reuse provides
- Complete end-to-end system: collection hardware, logistics and sanitization
- Full tracking and transparency on cup performance across the full lifecycle
- Operational management and field support
- Scalable infrastructure built for city-wide deployment
TOMRA Reuse’s city system is currently being implemented in the historic center of Lisbon, Portugal, under the name CopoMais. The City of Lisbon plays a key role as a partner, together with national hospitality business association AHRESP. Lisbon has also deployed regulatory tools to support a shift towards reusables: in 2024, the city announced a ban on serving drinks in single-use cups.
The business case: Making reuse the default, not the exception
One of the clearest insights from two years of Aarhus operations is that reuse succeeds when it becomes the path of least resistance — for businesses and consumers alike.
Kenny Rytter, Café Manager at Café Europa 1989, one of Aarhus' key hospitality partners, puts it plainly: "There are already many decisions customers have to make in a coffee bar. We don't want to make it more complicated. So we decided to make reuse the default — and customers both accept it and like it. We're actually considering adding a fee on the single-use option."
But Rytter also identified what unlocked his participation — and it wasn't just economics: "The real unlock for us was the fact that we were choosing to be part of a system that the municipality was explicitly supporting. When the municipality is part of it and we're requested to take in something for the whole city — it's a different ballgame."
This distinction — between a private service offer and a municipally-backed infrastructure — was echoed repeatedly across the field trip. For small business owners in particular, co-ownership by the city is a signal of permanence and shared risk.
Addressing the real barriers: what cities are still working through
The field trip wasn't just a showcase – it was also a working session. With reuse experts from across Europe gathered in Aarhus, organizers facilitated a structured workshop to capture pain points and lessons learned, co-hosted with Norion, the organization facilitating Denmark's national reuse mandate secretariat.
Three barriers surfaced consistently:
Barrier 1: Getting small businesses onboard
Particularly around branding, operational change, and perceived complexity. Solution path: municipal mandate reduces the "opt-in" burden and creates a level playing field.
Barrier 2: The business model and financial role of cities
Without financial incentives — regulations, taxes, or co-investment — reuse remains a "nice option but not an imperative." Cities need clarity on what they must fund and what returns they can expect.
Barrier 3: Political will
Technical solutions exist. The remaining gap is decision-making. Seeing a live, operational system — rather than a pilot or proposal — significantly shifts that conversation.
It is inspiring to see that a city-wide reuse system can truly work. It all starts with a shared willingness to change, supported by clear rules, strong logistics, and thoughtful, intuitive design. Two systems are transforming their cities and emerging as replicable models across Europe.
Aarhus is an important showcase for a city-wide reusable takeaway system at scale. Our ambition is to make reuse convenient, efficient and transparent – in a way that makes it a credible and sustainable alternative to disposable packaging."
Frequently asked questions
Users pick up a reusable cup from any participating café or vendor, paying a DKK 5 deposit. When finished, they find one of the 25+ automated return points across central Aarhus, tap their payment card or smart device, place the cup in the machine, and receive their deposit straight back to their account. No app or registration required.
Cafés and other vendors who want to participate in the system can simply register as a partner and order cups online, setting up either a recurring order based on weekly consumption, or ordering ad-hoc. A cup usage fee (comparable to the cost of a single-use cup) and the cup deposit is paid upon delivery. Vendors must then charge consumers the DKK 5 deposit for each cup sold. No integration with vendor systems is required.
After two years of operations (since January 2024), REUSEABLE Aarhus has achieved an average 88% return rate and collected over 1.8 million cups. Return rates have been consistently high and are increasing gradually.
A DRS for reusable packaging is a system where consumers pay a small deposit when receiving a reusable cup or container, which is refunded when they return it via a reverse vending machine or return point. Unlike single-use DRS models, the packaging re-enters circulation after cleaning, removing it from the waste stream entirely.
TOMRA Reuse works with municipalities to develop city-wide reusable takeaway packaging infrastructure. The Aarhus model is designed to be replicable. Contact TOMRA Reuse to discuss what a system could look like for your city.
No. Aarhus launched its system ahead of any national Danish mandate. However, municipal political commitment and co-investment are important conditions. A national mandate, such as the one Denmark is currently developing, accelerates and standardizes adoption. Other cities, like Lisbon, have already implemented a ban on single-use cups in its historic center, and leans on national requirements for reusable systems to encourage a shift towards reuse.
EPR legislation places responsibility on producers for the end-of-life management of their packaging. Reusable packaging systems can integrate with EPR frameworks, reducing single-use packaging obligations and providing producers with a compliant, circular alternative.
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