As of 28 May, single use plastic cups will disappear from CERN’s Meyrin restaurants, saving the planet from 1.5 tonnes of plastic waste per year.

Eight hundred and forty six thousand! That’s the number of plastic cups we got through at CERN in 2017. It’s a shocking number, and along with our restaurant contractor, Novae, we’ve decided to do something about it. You’ll have noticed over recent months that a number of measures have been taken to reduce the amount of waste produced in our restaurants. A recycling campaign last year was accompanied by the introduction of recycling bins, compostable cups have been introduced for hot drinks, all the soft drinks on sale are in PET packaging to facilitate recycling, and even little things like replacing plastic salad dressing containers with dispensers at the Grab ‘n Go are making a difference.

Removing plastic cups from the restaurant is a big move for Novae, and you can help it to go smoothly – both for restaurant staff and for your colleagues. Every day, the restaurants on the Meyrin site cater to some 2000 people. That means that during peak times, restacking the drinking glass dispensers is an almost Sisyphean task – no sooner is the rack full than it’s empty again. You can help by limiting yourself to one glass of water and using water jugs if you’re in a group.

CERN already sets a good example for recycling in the Geneva region, with over 50% of our waste recycled, but we can do better. Help us, by making a gesture for your colleagues, for the restaurant personnel and for the planet. Bon appétit!

For more informations, read this article.