A sustainable new business start-up established just a few months prior to the Covid-19 pandemic is making a huge impact throughout the events sector as it partners with venues and organisers to slash plastic pollution from single use cups.
Event Cup Solutions, which has the capacity to supply, rent, collect and wash up to three million sustainable cold drink cups every week with its ONE Planet ONE Chance® Reusable Cup System, was founded in 2019, just months before the UK was placed into the first of three national lockdowns.
The business was the brainchild of John Reeves, Director, and Les Vipond, Managing Director of Event Hire Group, who recognised the opportunity to work in partnership with stadia and premium national events to make them more sustainable and have a significant effect on the UK’s consumption of single use plastic.
John said: “For years, people have been talking about single use plastics and the damage they do to the planet, yet very little seemed to be happening to make a significant impact on tackling that. We wanted to develop a sustainable, reusable cup business model that would see hundreds of millions of cups used across UK venues returned, washed and reused.
“The ONE Planet ONE Chance® Reusable Cup System that we developed had two key points of difference to our competitors: Firstly, the cups are generically branded items, making it unlikely that people will take them home as souvenirs, and secondly, the success of the solution is measured by cup retention rather than cup losses, unlike manufacturer-led cup providers, in order to have the best possible environmental impact – sustainability is pivotal to our success.”
John and the team spent 2020 honing the business model and carrying out extensive market research and awareness exercises so that when it was finally able to officially launch with the easing of restrictions in 2021, Event Cup Solutions had strong support from venues and events organisers keen to be involved in the concept, swiftly securing high profile clients including Goodwood Motor Sport, Aston Villa FC and the Lost Village Festival in Lincolnshire.
The ONE Planet ONE Chance® Reusable Cup System is made up of millions of polypropylene and polycarbonate cold drink cups manufactured in Great Britain, and the business has established three dedicated UK wash centres in Middlesbrough, West Bromwich and Feltham, with the capacity to wash three million cups every week.
The centres have been kitted out with state-of-the-art Meiko MiQ machines, custom-built to Event Cup Solutions’ specification, which wash up to 10,000 cups an hour and feature extended drying and final cooling processes to ensure a moisture-free finish.
John said: “Because of the varying restrictions in place during 2020 and 2021, with curfews, limited visitor numbers and capacity constraints, last year was the first time we got to really have a proper run at the sector and we are absolutely delighted with the response to our concept.
“Not only did we treble our year one turnover, but we actually completed 55 per cent of our annual business within a 10-week period, and we’re now looking at an exceptionally busy 2023 and beyond.
“The coming months will see us provide services at a number of sporting venues and festivals, and we’re looking to invest in further equipment – and cups, of course – to fulfil the demand for our solutions, which looks set to well exceed 2022,” he added.
The business provides three different service tiers to clients; ranging from supply only, whereby Event Cup Solutions oversees the delivery, rental, collection and washing of the cups, a part-managed service, which involves a dedicated event manager and cup taking care of cup distribution, management and sorting, and a fully managed option.
