The city of Lisbon, Portugal, is giving single-use plastics the night off with a new city-wide reusable cup program.
The program aims to cut plastic waste and emissions for the city’s nightlife and hospitality sectors. Its launch starting in late June marked the first European capital with a city-wide reusable cup program, made possible with recycler Tomra and hospitality association Associação da Hotelaria, Restauração e Similares de Portugal (AHRESP), according to Tomra.
“Lisbon is committed to leading by example, promoting sustainable alternatives to single-use plastics and engaging partners in real change toward more conscious consumption habits,” says Rui Cordeiro, city councilor for waste management and circular economy for the City of Lisbon. “This is a concrete step toward building a culture of reuse in our city and inspiring other municipalities to follow the same path.”
How the reusable cup program works
The program started at two historical kiosks in Lisbon, with plans for further expansion.Image courtesy of Tomra
Local businesses pour drinks in reusable cups, and consumers pay a €0.60 deposit that is fully refunded when they return the cup. Consumers receive their refund by tapping their card or phone at the collection point.
The program uses Tomra’s “Rotake” full-service reuse model, which covers digital tracking, cup collection, sanitation, and redistribution. The recycler is managing the cups across their lifecycles to verify efficiency, hygiene, and environmental performance.
Consumer receive their refund by tapping their card or phone at collection points.Image courtesy of Tomra
Supporting compliance with local regulation
About 25,000 cups are used across Lisbon’s entertainment areas each night. Some cups have been labeled and sold as “reusable” in the area, but no system has been in place to collect, clean, and recirculate the cups before this program. Its rollout follows a new Lisbon Municipal Regulation banning single-use plastic cups, with the program offering a path to regulatory compliance for local businesses.
“This initiative represents a necessary shift for the hotel/restaurant/catering sector, which now takes on an active and central role in the transition towards a more circular economy. Establishments not only gain a practical solution to comply with the new regulations, but also an opportunity to lead, together with consumers, a sustainable and positive change in habits for the city of Lisbon,” says Carlos Moura, president of AHRESP.
The Lisbon program builds on a system already implemented in Aarhus, Denmark. 18 months after implementation in Aarhus, over 1 million cups have been returned with a return rate over 85%.
“This is not just about cups. It’s about changing how cities think about resources,” says Sæther. “Lisbon is showing that with the right partners and smart policy, reuse can be mainstream, modern, and massively effective.
