What to watch for at Paris 2024 Olympics: Reusable cups

In the spirit of the Olympics, it’s time for all of us to come together and ditch single-use plastic in favour of reuse.

The 2024 Olympic Games are upon us and like lotsof individuals around the world, I am thrilled to tune in and follow the action. Like many, I will cheer for professionalathletes from my home nation. Not desiring to missouton the minutes when brand-new world records are set and stars are made, I will watch the running. As a marine researcher, I have a natural affinity with anything fromanotherlocation associated to the ocean so I will likewise likely follow all the watersports. Finally, over the next 2 weeks, I will be tuning in throughout all occasions to watch for something most will not notification – multiple-use cups.

For a living, I project to stop plastic contamination from ravaging our oceans. As part of this work, my associates and I are attempting to get the world’s biggest drink business to sell more of their beverages in recyclable productpackaging rather of single-use plastic. A 10 percent boost in recyclable drink productpackaging internationally by 2030 can remove more than one trillion single-use plastic bottles and cups and avoid up to 153 billion of these containers from contaminating the world’s waterways and seas. Reusable productpackaging is the finest option the drink market has for attendingto its contribution to the plastic contamination crisis presently dealingwith our oceans. For 6 years running, Coca-Cola and Pepsi haveactually been called amongst the world’s top plastic polluters by the worldwide Break Free From Plastic motion. So, I was delighted when I veryfirst foundout that the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games would serve drinks to viewers in multiple-use productpackaging, possibly changing millions of single-use plastic cups.

This choice by Paris 2024 is an crucial turningpoint in the worldwide battle versus plastic contamination, marking a shift towards massive reuse systems and away from the take-make-waste economy where productpackaging is utilized just assoonas, then disposedof. The 2024 Games will be the biggest sporting occasion in history to usage recyclable productpackaging, though current reports have showed that this effort will be less than best, with some substantial defects.

A secret style requirement of efficient reuse systems is that recyclable productpackaging oughtto change single-use productpackaging. This is needed to guarantee that the system attains its goal of maximally lowering productpackaging waste – and contamination. To themajorityof, this would appear an apparent requirement however regrettably, at Paris 2024, someplace in the preparation procedure, this goal got lost or was neverever prioritised in the veryfirst location. At the Paris Games, reports have validated that numerous of the drinks served to viewers in multiple-use cups will be put from single-use plastic bottles. The organisers have declared that this choice was due to functional constraints in short-lived locations where waterfountain devices can’t be setup. This reason is tough to swallow. Leading sponsor Co