Reuse and recycling may seem like similar concepts, but there’s actually a crucial distinction between them. When you reuse a cup, you basically just clean it and refill it, as you do at home with your own cups, glasses, plates, and so forth. To recycle a cup, on the other hand, you need to break down the materials so they can be used to make a completely different product – usually one of lesser quality (e.g., single use plastic cups are often “recycled” into plastic bags or styrofoam). At some point in the past few decades, recycling gained a reputation as an “eco-friendly” thing to do. Yet the reality is that reuse is far superior to recycling in terms of sustainability outcomes.

Recycling plastic products requires significant quantities of material resources, including electricity to run processing plants, fuel to transport used plastics long distances for processing, and so on. Even more concerning, over 90% of the plastics dumped in “recycling bins” never actually get recycled, but instead end up in landfills or being incinerated.      

TURN’s circular system overcomes the drawbacks of recycling by enabling cups to be reused hundreds of times. Rather than getting dumped in “recycling bins” – only to end up in landfills or incinerators – TURN cups are deposited in smart collection bins, taken to our smart washing systems, and sanitized using our super efficient washer. The environmental benefits of the system are huge: It not only stops plastics from polluting natural ecosystems and the atmosphere but minimizes water and energy use through the world-leading design features of our washer. TURN is proud to be part of the movement toward more circular modes of production and consumption – and we’re even more proud to be contributing to that movement with our uniquely scalable solution to displace single use plastics from events and other venues.

Find out more about how we’re achieving positive sustainability outcomes through reuse by reading our case studies.

To get hold of a reusable TURN cup, you just need to buy a drink from a vendor using our system. There is no extra charge for getting your drink in a TURN cup. In fact, you can even earn rewards for using our cups. All we ask in reTURN is that, once finished, you put your cup in one of our collection bins. You'll receive a new cup each and every time you purchase a drink.

You simply need to drop your reusable cup into one of our designated smart collections bins. Bins are situated around events and venues, and the entry slot scans your cup as you drop it inside, ensuring you receive a reward via the app. Once your cup’s in the bin, the venue operators will take care of collecting and washing it, leaving you to go and get yourself another tasty beverage.

We know they're cool, but no. The TURN cups you get at events and venues are not souvenir cups. Event organizers and business owners pay to have TURN cups available for their consumers, so if you take your cup home, they won’t be very happy. But don’t worry - we provide smart collection bins so that it’s easy and rewarding to reTURN your cup!  

No. TURN cups are not available for individual retail, for the simple reason that they are designed to be part of a larger system. If you’re interested in partnering with us and using the TURN system for your next event, please get in touch with our team.

You can rest assured that TURN cups are always spotlessly clean and hygienic because they’re cleaned between uses in our world-leading smart washer. TURN’s washer not only cleans cups to a higher standard than most commercial dishwashers; it does so in a fraction of the time, using a fraction of the water and energy. That’s why the TURN smart washer is among our proudest engineering achievements: It eliminates health risks while saving time, money, and material resources. 

Our reusable cups are made from 100% recycled polypropylene, aluminum, or stainless steel. Check out our online store for product details. We use durable materials in our cups so that, on average, they can be used 120 times before being recycled. When you compare the lifecycle of a TURN cup to that of a single use plastic one, it’s not hard to see why our system produces exceptionally positive environmental outcomes.

TURN cups are available at all sorts of events, facilities and venues. Check out our case studies to see where we’ve been in the past, and follow us on social media to stay up-to-date with the events we’ll be supporting in the near future.