How Bold Reuse brought a reusable cup program to World Cup fan events in Kansas City and Seattle, and the lessons that make event reuse work at scale.
Jocelyn Quarrell, CEO, Bold Reuse
When we think about the World Cup, it's easy to picture what happens inside the stadium, but some of the most memorable moments happened outside it, too. In Kansas City and Seattle, a reusable cup program became part of the fan experience at fan fests, watch parties, cultural celebrations, and community events — even though reusable serviceware wasn't available inside the stadiums themselves.
For Bold Reuse, those events created an opportunity to leverage our expertise orchestrating the launch and management of reuse programs across a wide range of event types, audiences, and locations. Just as importantly, we approached these events to learn from what we saw and experienced throughout the month-long activations.
Bringing a reusable cup program to Kansas City fan fests
In Kansas City, Bold Reuse supported three World Cup watch parties in partnership with Bridging the Gap. The events took place at Central Bank Sporting Complex, Scheels Sporting Complex, and in North Kansas City.
Each event had its own distinct character, reflecting the attendees and vendors that had gathered together. One took place at a soccer complex north of the city, another at a complex on the Kansas side, and the third had more of a block-party feel in North Kansas City.
What they shared was a strong sense of community.
"At smaller events, Bold Reuse can engage and educate attendees about reuse and waste management by highlighting it within their communities," said Jay Raines, Operations Supervisor at Bold Reuse.
That community connection is an important part of making reuse familiar, in a fun and low-stress environment. Rather than simply hearing about reuse as a theoretical sustainability concept, attendees could see the system in action, enjoy using a reusable cup themselves, and participate in returning it back for reuse.
Scaling reuse across Seattle's World Cup events
Bold Reuse also supported a range of World Cup-related events throughout Seattle, working alongside Seattle Public Utilities, Connors & Co., and Perennial Zero Waste.
The events included reuse programs at Pacific Place and Pier 58, four events in the Beautiful Game Series, and Seattle PrideFest.
Together, these events demonstrated the variety of ways a reuse program can fit into the ecosystem surrounding a major sporting event.
A fan festival has different needs than a cultural celebration. A public gathering has different infrastructure than a watch party. But across each setting, the focus was the same: how do we make the reuse system easy for people to understand and participate in?
Why event infrastructure matters as much as the cup
One of the clearest lessons from the World Cup events was that a successful reusable cup program depends on much more than the reusable cupitself.
Let's look at water stations.
When collection bins were positioned directly next to water stations, attendees naturally returned their cups where they had received them. The proximity made the right action obvious and eliminated extra steps and potential friction
It was a simple example of how thoughtful system design can influence the desired behavior.
We also saw the importance of clear communication. Volunteers appreciated having reuse incorporated into the waste-management system, but some attendees did find multiple waste streams confusing, initially. This reinforced a lesson we see across reuse programs: the system needs to be intuitive, including signs with imagery and in a variety of languages that attendees understand
Clear signage, simple instructions, and education all play a role in helping people know what goes where, particularly as reuse becomes more common at events.
Outdoor events introduced another practical consideration. Weather can quickly change what works in the field. At one Kansas City event, a slight breeze made tabletop signage impractical, highlighting the need for durable, weather-resistant options such as flags or A-frame signs.
These may seem like small operational details, but they are the details that make a reuse system work in the real world.
Taking reuse beyond the stadium
The World Cup demonstrated that there are meaningful opportunities to integrate reuse throughout the broader fan experience, even when reusable serviceware isn't available inside the stadium.
Fan festivals, watch parties, cultural events, and community gatherings can all introduce people to reuse and give them an opportunity to participate in a zero-waste event experience.
As the reuse movement keeps moving forward, familiarity builds momentum.
Every time someone successfully uses a reusable cup, finds the right collection bin, or sees a reuse system working at an event in their community, reuse becomes a little more familiar and a little less novel.
And every event gives operators, organizers, and reuse partners another opportunity to learn.
For Bold Reuse, that operational learning is just as important as the number of cups collected (and we collected a lot of cups!). We know that successful reuse at events depends on thoughtful system design, clear signage, strategic collection placement, engaged volunteers, and effective education. Through the summer, the events we partnered with reinforced those lessons in real-world settings and gave us a deeper understanding of how those elements work together in outdoor environments.
Each experience adds to what we're building and helps refine the playbook for the next event.
What's next for reuse at major sporting events
Major global sporting events create an extraordinary platform for sustainability. But lasting change doesn't depend on one venue or one event. It depends on building reuse into the network of experiences that surrounds them - every day.
The World Cup allowed us to do that in Kansas City and Seattle: to put a reusable cup system into practice, work alongside community and event partners, engage fans, and learn what it takes to make reuse accessible in different environments
For me, that's one of the most valuable parts of this work. Every event gives us another chance to make the system easier, more intuitive, and more familiar for the people using it.
The goal isn't simply to replace a single-use cup at one event. It's to help people experience what reuse can look like in their own communities, and to build the operational knowledge that makes those systems possible at an even larger scale.
We're grateful to have been part of the World Cup fan experience in Kansas City and Seattle, and we're excited to carry what we learned into what's next for reuse at events.
