Why the Future of Events and Venues is Reusable

65% of UK venues have banned single-use plastics from events.

Bans on single-use plastics are becoming the norm, with more and more venues and events looking for solutions to support them in moving away from single-use for good. Removing plastic packaging without a credible alternative simply creates a different problem.

Reuse is increasingly becoming that alternative.

Every year, World Refill Day shines a spotlight on exactly that: the simple idea that we need smarter ways to keep resources and products in use for longer, with reuse and refill being the answer. Recycling cannot keep up with the sheer number of products being produced: with 59% of plastics burned, 16% shipped abroad, 16% recycled, and 9% buried. We cannot simply continue our current make-take-waste economy.

Reuse enables a circular economy; keeping products and materials in use for as long as possible, reducing the need to extract, produce, and throw away.

Key Takeaways:

• Reuse is already working at scale across stadiums, festivals and events.

• Technology has solved reuse's biggest barriers so businesses can confidently operate a reuse scheme.

• Businesses that implement now will be best placed once the upcoming legislations are in place.

Why World Refill Day Matters for Businesses

World Refill Day is a global campaign that encourages individuals, businesses, and organisations to make the switch to reusable and refillable alternatives.

With regulatory pressure mounting, World Refill Day feels more significant than ever. The UK’s Deposit Return Scheme comes into force in October 2027, and the Extended Producer Responsibility is already reshaping how businesses are thinking about packaging costs and consumer expectations around sustainability.

Businesses that wait for legislation to force their hand risk paying the price, financially and reputationally. But the good news is that reuse infrastructure has scaled significantly. Digital reuse systems now exist that integrate into venues and events without disrupting operations and routines, using data to prove the impact.

Different Industries Making the Switch to Reuse

Reuse isn’t just limited to niche zero-waste shops or pop-ups. Technology scales reuse to be integrated seamlessly within venues, such as sporting stadiums, arenas, and even retail and smaller venues. The results and impact speaks for themselves.

Sports & Stadiums

Football stadiums present one of the most demanding environments, with sporting events generating around 750,000 single-use bottles. Due to the number of fans, sport has a significant amount of visibility and influence to drive behaviour change.

The influence is being put to work, with stadium operators increasingly turning to digital reuse systems to manage the shift away from single-use. By pairing reusable cups with digital reuse technology, stadium operators can now monitor stock levels, return rates, and environmental impact in real-time. Fans can track their own impact and engage through competitions and rewards, driving return rates further.

A phased approach has been proven effective, piloting in a single stand before rolling out stadium-wide allows for testing of the system, gathering data and refining the system before scaling. The impact is significant. Across one football season, Circulayo's technology tracked over 6,000kg of single-use plastic saved and 24,000kg of carbon emissions avoided by our sporting clients.

That’s the equivalent of over 14,000 footballs worth of plastic kept out of the waste stream. The numbers make the case: reuse at stadium scale isn't just achievable, it's already happening.

Festivals & Events

The festivals and events sector has accelerated its shift towards reuse, with 67% of festivals now implementing reusable cup systems across their entire events.

Festivals have long been using deposit schemes to encourage cup returns, a simple concept that works, but can be improved with smart return points for higher return rates. The current infrastructure has lagged behind the ambition of deposit returns for reuse.

Digital smart bins automate the return process, where attendees simply return their cup, and the system logs the return and refunds the deposit. Paired with tracking technology, such as the Flow Platform, organisers gain real-time visibility on return rates and stock levels across every point on the festival/event site. This allows them to respond quickly rather than discover problems at the end of the event.

Attendees can track their environmental impact, participate in competitions, and earn rewards for their actions, turning a cup into engagement rather than a transaction.

Across the events and festivals, our tracking technology has seen over 320,000 returns, savings 6,000Kg of single-use plastic, and 23,000Kg of carbon emissions.

Retail

Reuse in retail presents a different challenge. Unlike stadiums or festivals, the system needs to work across multiple locations and return points, with customers engaging repeatedly over time rather than within a single event window.

EcoX, a Portuguese brand that transforms used cooking oil into household cleaning products sold in reusable packaging, partnered with Circulayo to digitise its refill and return system. Each product is tagged with a QR code connecting customers to their personal impact data, nearest refill points, and rewards for repeat behaviour, turning a one-off purchase into an ongoing reuse habit.

The pilot, launched at a sustainability fair in Portugal, recorded 94 reuses, avoided 22.9kg of CO₂, and saved over 9 million litres of water. With scale, the potential grows considerably; at ten stores, the system is projected to save 150Kg of plastic and 278Kg of CO₂ per day.

How Reuse Is Moving from Being Niche to Mainstream

Reuse is no longer a concept, but a reality being brought to life across industries. Thanks to technology, reuse systems are scalable, operational, and delivering real, measurable impact.

What was once a manual process now has a digital infrastructure that supports what the previous approach couldn’t; one that solves the problems the previous approach couldn't, at a scale and pace that simply wasn't possible before. Real-time tracking, automated returns, consumer engagement tools, and verified environmental data have transformed reuse from a manual process into something operators can confidently build into their business model.

New and upcoming regulations are accelerating the shift to reuse. With Extended Producer Responsibility placing greater financial responsibility on businesses for the packaging they put into circulation, and the Deposit Return Scheme on the horizon, the economics of single-use are becoming increasingly difficult to justify.

The Future of Digital Reuse

With reuse growing at a pace, the technology supporting it is only becoming more sophisticated. Smart tracking, deeper consumer insights, and tightening regulation mean reuse is in a better position than ever before.

The operators embedding reuse into their models today are building the operational experience and data that will give them a genuine advantage as the landscape continues to shift. Reuse is becoming the default; the question is how quickly businesses get ahead of it.

This World Refill Day, take a look at how you could implement reuse systems into your business. At Circulayo, we make that transition as straightforward as possible. Get in touch or book a demo to find out how we can make reuse work for your business, event or festival.