ANTWERP, Belgium – A quick coffee before class: a regular habit for many students and lecturers: on University of Antwerp’s (UAntwerp) Groenenborger and Middelheim campuses, the ritual is no longer accompanied by heaps of disposable cups. The system with reusable cups appears to be successful. For several years now, the University of Antwerp has been committed to reusable materials in all komida student restaurants.
Following a number of trial periods, the university went into business with the German company Vytal. ‘In our restaurants, we’re now working with two reusable containers,’ komida coordinator Filip Verplancke explains. ‘Salads, soup, hot take-away meals: we’re no longer using disposable materials.’
No extra work
The system functions without a deposit. If you take or return a container, you register this in the Vytal app. ‘The system is free for users, with the university paying a small service fee. If you borrow [FV1] a container, you have fourteen days to return it. If you fail to do so, the app will charge the user ten euros. In other words, the system doesn’t create extra work for our employees. The containers are cleaned in our restaurants, but we didn’t have to modify our cleaning installations for this.’
In recent months, UAntwerp managed to prevent 7768 litres of waste – the equivalent of 129 rubbish bags. Komida is continuing on its current path and also has concrete plans to replace the disposable containers in which desserts are served with reusable ones.
UAntwerp: Unique approach
Sustainability is also being worked on outside the restaurants. For instance, a pilot with reusable coffee cups is being conducted on the Groenenborger and Middelheim campuses, once again in collaboration with Vytal. In this project, students and employees can buy coffee at a self-service station. The method involving reusable cups and no deposits is unique in Belgium.
‘Taking or returning a cup is done using a QR code,’ says Verplancke. ‘We started in September and the new approach seems to be working. The number of coffees sold is even a bit higher than last year. The pilot project will run until the end of December. In case of a positive evaluation, it will be rolled out on all of the UAntwerp campuses in January.’
