case studies in reuse. Real stories. Real impact.
Explore how various organisations across Australia and New Zealand are making reuse work — from major festivals and stadiums to councils and markets. Each case study shows what’s possible with the right system in place.
Want your event or venue to be featured in a reuse case study? Get in touch at hello@bettercup.com.au.
Moomba Festival 2026 Case Study.
Profile:
Event type: Community festival and Carnivalesque event.
Duration: 4 days.
Key points:
Moomba Festival welcomed more than 1 million attendees and achieved record reusable dish return rates of 84%, with over 28,000 meals served and 9,000 dishes washed.
Over 465 kg of single-use waste was eliminated from landfill.
Little Food Market 2025 Case Study.
Profile:
Event type: Multi-day food & drink tasting event.
Duration: 3 days.
Key points:
The Little Food Market demonstrated that scalable reuse systems can deliver strong environmental outcomes and cost efficiencies without compromising the patron experience.
Over 400 kg of single-use waste was eliminated from landfill, with return rates rising from 61% to 72.5% year-on-year.
FillGood 2025
Case Study.
Profile:
Event type: All kinds of events – sports, food trucks, local markets, and more.
Duration: Ongoing.
Items sold: 142,409 reusable items at present.
Key points:
Bettercup’s partnership with FillGood demonstrated a strong, ongoing commitment to sustainability and innovation, setting a benchmark for reuse initiatives and inspiring similar projects across Australia and beyond.
Through the switch to reusable products, FillGood has eliminated over 160,000 single-use items and supported 192 events to date.
Fringe World 2025 Case Study.
Profile:
Event type: Festival.
Duration: 5 weeks.
Drinks sold: 46,456 drinks.
Key points:
Fringe World achieved an overall return rate of 84.7%. This exceeds the 70 to 80% industry benchmark for similar scale reusable cup systems.
By replacing single-use plastic cups with a structured reuse system, Fringe World made a measurable impact on waste reduction, saving 372 kg of waste, all while maintaining a seamless patron experience.
Profile:
Event type: Live music and arts event.
Duration: 9 days.
Drinks sold: 5895 drinks.
Key points:
The Sydney Opera House's reusable cup trial not only meets but exceeds industry standards in several areas for similar reuse system initiatives with an 83% return rate.
By switching to reusable cups, the event eliminated over 50 kg of single-use waste and saved more than $1,000 in costs.
Australian Open 2026 Case Study.
Profile:
Event type: Australia’s largest sporting event, attracting 1.1m attendees.
Duration: 3 weeks with 16 days of washing reusables.
Key points:
Australian Open trials off site washing for the first time, combining on site coordination, reusables collections and vendor liaison with high volume, daily washing at bettercup’s reusables washing facility
Off site washing projected to manage 750,000+ cups, matching volume of Wimbledon