Customers of US fast-food chain Burger King in Germany can now get their drinks, milkshakes, and ice cream in reusable cups and glasses, with a deposit of just EUR 1. The deposit-return scheme, which Burger King is running in partnership with Recup (Munich; www.recup.de), is active in Germany’s 750 Burger King restaurants and drive-thru outlets.

The reusable cups, Burger King says, can be returned to any of the restaurants or the 18,500 Recup distribution points throughout Germany. Recup claims that its products are 100% recyclable and BPA free. The polypropylene cups and trays, it adds, can be retained in the deposit system cycle for a very long time – the Recup will withstand up to 1,000 washes and the trays up to 200 washes.

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Each Recup also comes with a CoffeeCup Paper (Halle, Germany; www.coffeecup-paper.de) sleeve, reportedly made of waste paper and 25% fibres sourced from recycled disposable cups. “Thanks to a special upcycling process, up to 90% of the paper fibres in a disposable cup can now be saved. With approximately 1.7 bn cups consumed annually throughout Germany, there is an enormous potential for recyclable raw material,” Burger King said in a statement.

In 2020, Burger King tested reusable plastic packaging in select US restaurants. A corresponding agreement was signed with compatriot waste management company TerraCycle.