The pros behind some of Washington’s biggest events are raving about r.Cup.
In a state that leads the nation in game-changing green initiatives, one solution stands out as the best for entertainment events and festival planners.
At their annual Summit Awards ceremony in early November, the WFEA (Washington Festival and Events Association) named r.Cup—a reusable cup system for the food and beverage industry—the “Best Green Program” for 2022.
For the seasoned professionals who pull off some of Washington’s biggest and most beloved events year after year, r.Cup stands out because, according to the judging criteria, it “benefits all partners, produces measurable results, and is an original idea.”
What is r.Cup?
r.Cup is a reusable cup for live events created by r.World. The way it works is simple:
- Venues rent r.Cups, which are made of a durable, sustainable material.
- The r.World team drops off clean, sanitized cups to any event, festival, or venue (with service seven days a week, 365 days a year).
- Guests enjoy their beverages in high-quality cups—and drop them into return bins.
- The r.World team picks up the used cups and sanitizes them at their local wash hub.
- The cups are then reused, again and again.
With this system, r.Cup is keeping tens of thousands of single-use cups from entering the waste stream—at every single event.
Guests love it.
Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo converted to r.Cup for its 2022 summer Zoo Tunes series—and the cups were a big hit.
“We’ve gotten incredible feedback about r.Cups here at Zoo Tunes,” says Liv Johansson, who heads up the green programs at the zoo. “A lot of our patrons come up to us specifically to thank us for doing this work and to ask how they get it going at other venues.”
Smart logistics make it work.
The WFEA also recognized r.Cup for best “Logistical Achievement” and best “Multi-Agency Collaborative Program”. Both of these recognitions speak to how smoothly the r.Cup platform works—and how well the r.World team partners with cities, planners, and sustainability advocacy groups to bring reuse to events and festivals of all kinds.
