There;s something going on with reusable cups at bars

[carlosj]

We've been bringing our own polycarbonate glasses for the past 3/4 years now.

I can't stand the paper cups you get, they're unstable and a pain to hold, this

year we've upgraded again and gone for polycarbonate pint (dimple) pots :-)

About £12-15 for 4. These things are sturdy as hell, no chance of cracking

unless you sit on them. only problem is that the pint still gets poured into the

original paper cup so there's still wastage there.

Where from? I like these, but could only find a tall stein type one, which is what I use at the festival. Thanks.

Edit - I'm on a phone, so never twigged about clicking on the image link. Will do that now.

Edited June 19, 2015 by carlosj

[windy_miller]

Am I making it up that the bothers bar used to do like a big bottle that you could get refilled?

Yes they did.  Was about 10 years ago though.  I think they had to stop due to the amount of plastic bottles littering the site.

[Redwinevino]

Given that you would be the person in that situation, I would hope that firstly you'd know what you'd done to the cup, and secondly that you'd not be drinking out of something you'd pissed in.

 

Isn't this saying you'd get a new cup that someone else had handed in? As there is no way they'll have time to fill up new drinks every time someone goes up so you've no idea what the first 10 people to have the cup you're drinking out of did to it.

[incident]

Isn't this saying you'd get a new cup that someone else had handed in? As there is no way they'll have time to fill up new drinks every time someone goes up so you've no idea what the first 10 people to have the cup you're drinking out of did to it.

No, the system as described in the original post is - you buy a cup for a quid, you keep it when empty, then when you next go to the bar they re-fill it.

Same cup all the way through, you've got consistency of ownership so the only one pissing in it is you.

[incident]

And actually, it occurs to me that the Festival has already done a variation on this rather successfully - charging people however much it is for the re-usable wateraid bottles which they just refill each time rather than swap+clean.

[Redwinevino]

No, the system as described in the original post is - you buy a cup for a quid, you keep it when empty, then when you next go to the bar they re-fill it.

Same cup all the way through, you've got consistency of ownership so the only one pissing in it is you.

 

Ah well that makes much more sense then!

 

Though I can't see that happening, would take forever.

[Migraine]

And actually, it occurs to me that the Festival has already done a variation on this rather successfully - charging people however much it is for the re-usable wateraid bottles which they just refill each time rather than swap+clean.

You don't need to have a water tap anywhere near the bottle to pour it unlike a beer where the tap will be close to if not touching the cup.

[incident]

You don't need to have a water tap anywhere near the bottle to pour it unlike a beer where the tap will be close to if not touching the cup.

When you're on site next week, I suggest you look a lot closer. I doubt you'll notice much if any difference in pouring distances between the bars and the wateraid stalls..

And certainly, when I refill my water bottle at a tap, it's either touching or damn near not least because most of the taps on site seem to dispense water in 5 different directions at once.

[Memory Man]

there are signs up in pubs that say "clean glasses every time". they simply will not get away with refilling cups at bars.

[Ponyegg]

ah okay - makes sense. as always, an excellent informative post from you, sir! it is a shame tho, the reusing is such a neat idea.

 

i do like the litter-economy that this generates, but equally there is an army of litter pickers who get free tickets to the festival and pick up all of the waste every night.

 

of course if people weren't such irresponsible dicks then neither would be needed...

 

Just a quick point-of-order: They're not free tickets. People work (IIRC) 8hr shifts each day to get them, they also have to supply a deposit equal to the value of the ticket so that if they don't turn up they forfeit their deposit. Saying they get free tickets downplays the labour they put in and the vital role they play in keeping the whole place functioning.

 

As you said though, if people weren't dicks and didn't make such a mess there wouldn't be so many people needed which in turn would mean more tickets for public consumption. 

[gmb1992]

I want to collect all the cups! 

[Ponyegg]

And certainly, when I refill my water bottle at a tap, it's either touching or damn near not least because most of the taps on site seem to dispense water in 5 different directions at once.

 

Which reminds me of the time I was having a piss in one of the urinals with a friend of mine who had a Prince Albert :-)

[gmb1992]

Which reminds me of the time I was having a piss in one of the urinals with a friend of mine who had a Prince Albert :-)

vom

[glasto-worker]

what do they do at Reading?

 

its a paper cup with a small deposit - Punters hand that cup back that gets dumped and they walk off with a fresh pint but don't have to pay the deposit.

 

trust me if you drop  a cup on the grass you will be trampled with the people trying to grab it.

 

people will walk about picking them up and they can return a batch at a time at a special deposit return area.

 

sure its paper cups but they are not shipped back anywhere.

 

+ you have to factor in how much is gained from using paper cups as drinks companies pay a fortune to get their advert on them - when I first joined it was common for a Company to buy all the space but for the past ten years  its more common for a split advert to be used ,

 

anyway this system takes up far less storage space - 

 

when the latitude system first started most people did not appreciate that the plastic cups were shipped back to Germany as there was no plant in the UK able to sterilize them so what you win one way - you lose the other.

 

anyway I have my doubts due to the space factor - each bar back area would have to gain a extra 25% and I just cant see that is possible.

 

the claim that a person walks up - hands a cup over and gets the same cup back will for sure not happen in any WBC Bar - that is for certain not the way it will work.

[gmb1992]

 

 

the claim that a person walks up - hands a cup over and gets the same cup back will for sure not happen in any WBC Bar - that is for certain not the way it will work.

 

 

I don't want to drink out of someone else's manky cup, so this might not be the best idea

[mungo57]

 

 

 

I don't want to drink out of someone else's manky cup, so this might not be the best idea

 

from Glasto Workers other posts mate thats not how it works - all cups returned are then packed and sent to be sterilised, your cup will be replaced with a new 'virgin' one when you get a new pint

[chief_scrutter]

Just a quick point-of-order: They're not free tickets. People work (IIRC) 8hr shifts each day to get them, they also have to supply a deposit equal to the value of the ticket so that if they don't turn up they forfeit their deposit.

so what you're saying is......they get free tickets?  just kidding - it's semantics. didn't mean to downplay anything - they do a sterling and (unfortunately) necessary job.

 

all that would happen if you brought in the reading-like system is that all the litter other than cups would get left. like the trays that carry 4 pints grrrrr

 

funnily enough, a few years ago on the wednesday i bought 4 pints from the bread and roses, and got given one of these http://www.baractivity.com/special-offer-4-pint-drinks-carrier/ for free, branded by tribute. I still use it and repeatedly claim it as the best beer-related freebie i've ever received.

Edited June 19, 2015 by chief_scrutter

[Bobs]

I don't think it's a bad idea, by any means, however, the idea of 'forcing' someone to pay £1, without an option of returning it, just seems like a bit of a pain. By all means, i'm not lazy, and I recycle regularly, but if anyone knows me, i'll be asleep in a ditch by 1pm on the Wednesday, so there's absolutely no chance that i'm going to be able to keep hold of a cup!

 

By all means, trial it, hope it works, but I can envisage paying like £20 for cups now

[fluff164]

Great idea and save on litter. It works really well at Latitude, so much in fact that they now have several colours & designs. I think I brought back 5 designs or different colours last year!

[DeanoL]

I don't think it's a bad idea, by any means, however, the idea of 'forcing' someone to pay £1, without an option of returning it, just seems like a bit of a pain. By all means, i'm not lazy, and I recycle regularly, but if anyone knows me, i'll be asleep in a ditch by 1pm on the Wednesday, so there's absolutely no chance that i'm going to be able to keep hold of a cup!

 

By all means, trial it, hope it works, but I can envisage paying like £20 for cups now

 

But doesn't that seem fair? That £20 pays for a litter picker's ticket, for the privilege of you having someone clean up after you.

 

We're all paying a significant sum of money as part of our ticket price to the festival clean-up, both volunteer work (cost of lost sale of ticket) and paid post-festival clean-up work. This is a step towards increasingly placing that burden on those who litter more, rather than those who don't. And it's a bit more practical than trying to track campsites and who is leaving stuff behind.

 

[ink1ing]

Am I making it up that the brothers bar used to do like a big bottle that you could get refilled?

 

Yeah, I think it was 2005 when I made a fortune picking them up off the ground, taping three of them together and flogging it as a comfy seat for a fiver.  

[EighteenSixty7]

By god there's some tight buggers in here.

 

I wouldn't mind this, a nice souvenir if nothing else

[glasto-worker]

Great idea and save on litter. It works really well at Latitude, so much in fact that they now have several colours & designs. I think I brought back 5 designs or different colours last year!

 

the very first year people thought there was only one special cup but if you had access to enough of them you would see there was in fact eight special versions but they only had a slight change so very difficult to spot -  the secret was to look underneath it - each version had its own code

 

I put four cups out and everyone was convinced they were all identical until I pointed out where they did not match .

 

these days they tend to use designs that stand out more and they come from two plants - one still has a code the other does not.

[wilson123]

It was used in crew camping at the Park stage last year. 

 

I thought you got a £1 back if you returned the cup so I recklessly just kept getting a few thinking I could take them all back in one go. In the end I took about 10 cups home with me.

[LondonTom]

Fair enough, thanks. Glad to hear the WBC contract is set to continue - you guys do a fantastic job

Indeed, I've learnt  to appreciate the WBC bars after the bars run at Hyde Park last by Peppermint bars, just Christ never such slow bar staff/system in place.

 

It depends on the pocket.

 

It wouldn't fit in jeans pockets, but I found I had 4 different pockets the cup I used last weekend would fit into.

Yup, I normally wear cargo pants at a festival for this very reason of storage! Works well!

 

Wouldn't have a problem with the system as its being presented either, I carry around a day bag with cans and other crap anyway , so one more thing isn't going do any harm. Quite like it actually and I don't think i've ever seen much of a queue at Glastonbury bar where them pouring pints instead would make much difference.

 

Just hope I don't end up with a massive collection to take home like I did at Hyde Park in 2012!  (I think by the end of the night they was giving them out for free with every drink :S But that wasn't very clear night )