„What a great idea!“ Last year, 31,500 litres were handed out to citizens free of charge, using 157,190 plastic cups - which were mostly returned to the specially provided bags. Reason enough for the environment and consumer protection committee to ask the Stadtwerke for a concept to avoid single-use-cups when handing out drinking water.

Environment activists had criticised in the past that throw-away-cups cannot be justified to environmentally conscious Bonners. „We are condemning using natural resourced, especially because the Stadtwerke present themselves as an environmentally astute enterprise“, said a spokesperson. Now the Stadtwerke are reacting by using only organic cups made from PLA, which are 100% compostable. The „Bring me back“ phrase printed on the cups meant a 90% return rate on the first day.

The Stadtwerke would like to use these cups more often. „We own two water wagons“, said Jürgen Winterwerp, head of marketing and distribution for SWB Energy and Water. „With those we can try a return system.“ Reusable cups are ten times more expensive than the single-use-cups. But the use of them could reduce the use of single-use-cups by a quarter at least.

„It’s in the hand of the Bonn citizens“, said Winterwerp. And 15-year-old David Szathmary pointed out correctly: „Being able to fill up my water bottle here too, that’s just the best.“ Original text: Stefan Hermes Translation: Mareike Graepel