In the third week of July, the 4Days Marches of Nijmegen take place, the world’s largest walking achievement event! Over 45,000 participants with more than 70 different nationalities, from as young as 11 to over 90, come to Nijmegen every year to walk 30, 40 or 50 kilometres for four days in this city on the Waal river and its beautiful, wooded surroundings. They all gather with the same objective in mind: being awarded the coveted 4Days Marches Cross.
All these people, together with the 1.5 million visitors visitors at the festival, generate a lot of waste. How might we reduce this waste, so the 4Days Marches of Nijmegen and its festival become more sustainable?
This was one of the challenges tackled during the Sustainable Innovation Games in Nijmegen. An international crowd applied the Dutch Design Deltas and explored the context. They found out that the crowd did not want to put effort in throwing away the plastic glasses and paper cups in the available waste bins. They came up with means to make throwing away waste in those bins a pleasure in order to recycle them. The solution is tested and lead to additional insights. They paved the way to become climate neutral in 2030.
Nowadays the organization works with a circular cup system: every cup you bring back to the bar is collected separately and new cups can be made from it. Also food containers made of disposable plastic are no longer allowed to be used, also no confetti can be shot and no free carry trays are handed out, to reduce waste. The construction fence cloths, printed with water-based ink, are recycled or new products are made from them.
This all contributes to the ambition to become climate neutral in 2030.
Would you like to experience something like this too?
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