Branded Reusable Cups Made From Plants - An Eco-Friendly Option For Your Event

The mention of festivals and sports events conjure up images of crushed plastic beer cups and bedraggled tents abandoned in a muddy field. Hoping to put an end to the idle convenience of throwaway culture, Live Nation, the world’s largest music promoter, pledged in 2019 that all venues and events would be free of single-use plastic in the next two years, followed by many other independent festivals who promised the same. More than 100 million disposable plastic cups are used each year in events in the UK, barely a third of which are recycled. Major US festivals aren’t any better - Coachella has been said to produce over 100 tonnes of waste every day, and to put this into perspective, the average UK household produces an estimation of one tonne a year.

The use of disposable plastic products can really take its toll on a venue, with the price of waste management, recycling, litter, and food and drink containers, the cost can quickly begin to add up. The obvious solution to this is to completely eliminate single-use, difficult to recycle plastics, but this requires a cost effective alternative that won’t cause a build-up of litter or waste that won’t be recycled, doesn’t use an excess of energy to manufacture and ship, doesn’t contaminate food and drink items with toxins, and ideally uses materials from a renewable source.

Some companies actually offer hiring services for events in which a small deposit (likely £1 or an equivalent) is paid for a reusable cup, which they will get back upon returning the cup. This option is far more cost effective for both the event's organisers and the consumer, considering bottled water over tap refills costs 500 times more. Others opt for branded steel or aluminium bottles to discourage buying single-use plastic bottles even outside of the event whilst successfully promoting their brand. However, seven times as much fossil fuel is used to produce a steel reusable bottle than a disposable plastic one, and aluminium emits 86% more carbon dioxide during the manufacturing process. In fact, 90% of the environmental impact of these reusable bottles is caused by how they are manufactured.

Bioplastic, otherwise known as bio-based plastic or plant plastic, is made from plants like bamboo, corn and sugarcane, making it a more effective alternative to plastic as these are renewable and don’t use an abundance of oil and fossil fuels in the process. One downside of bioplastics is that not all of them can fully biodegrade on their own and need to be sent to an industrial composting facility due to the type of polymer requiring a higher heat to break it down. This means that the material, if not properly disposed of, can wind up as miniscule particles much like microplastics, causing just as much harm to the ocean and marine life. PLA, although generally regarded as biodegradable, won’t actually break down effectively without industrial composting, whereas PHAs are nontoxic, compostable, biocompatible but not water soluble, making it ideal for anything from food packaging to medical application.

In the midst of an exciting social event, it’s easy to carelessly discard your drinks cup and not consider the effects, but a society built around instant gratification means that there is a distinct lack of individual responsibility in the everyday consumer. Continuing to push the urgency of the state of the earth is crucial to ensuring that each individual person is remaining mindful of what they are consuming. Replacing disposable materials with reusable, natural materials that won’t contaminate the environment is absolutely critical to any environmental progress we wish to make and could drastically reduce carbon emissions and millions of tonnes of plastic in years to come.

Eliminating single-use plastics from your event doesn’t necessarily mean your brand has to suffer. Branded plant-based cups by S’wheat are made from a completely biodegradable blend of wheat straw and bamboo, which is highly renewable, naturally antibacterial, lighter yet more durable than plastic and metal alternatives, yet use just a fraction of the energy to manufacture. Using S’wheat for your event means you can feel assured you are choosing the most eco-friendly option, which will not only reflect highly on your brand but directly prevent those in attendance from wasting money on disposable rubbish and littering your venue. No matter the occasion, S’wheat can provide high standard, low price branded products to promote your brand in a professional manner and keep plastic pollution at bay. We don’t skimp on quality, so we offer laser engraved branding to preserve your brand name or logo so that it won’t scratch off or fade over time. 

Promoting your brand through branded S’wheat products demonstrates that a certain level of quality and care has been taken in the business practices and that you are committed to working towards a better future. S’wheat works hard to remain beyond net-zero by planting trees, removing plastic from the oceans and donating profits towards protecting aquatic life with every order, so our customers get an opportunity to see their positive impact in the included report of environmental statistics. Our packaging is, of course, completely sustainable and recyclable, and we source our unique bioplastic material from waste plants to further instil our commitment to building a circular economy. You may expect such a practical item to appear boring and uninspired, but we offer four original colours in blue, pink, green and oat, and can even work with you on custom colours at no extra cost. Find out more here.