Borro – Slim systeem voor herbruikbare bekers

Borro is an innovative circular cup system that brings both sustainability and business innovation to the events industry. In less than a year after it was founded, Borro already managed to convince clients such as Club Brugge, KV Mechelen and Deliveroo to implement its digital deposit system. It replaces disposable cups with reusable ones, building on maximum convenience: visitors to a football match or festival get their drink in a sturdy reusable cup, for which a small cashless deposit is automatically reserved on the payment card. After consumption, simply drop the cup into a Borro return point; no app, no scanning, no hassle. The system automatically recognises the cup and immediately releases the deposit. As a result, sustainable behaviour becomes the ‘path of least resistance’ and thus almost frictionless for both user and organiser.

The jury on Borro:

A festival cup with a deposit often causes headaches, both for the user and the organiser. How do I get the deposit back that I paid for the cups, does the organiser refund the deposit in cash or by card, etc.? Borro provides a well-thought-out process from A to Z. To do so, it uses very simple technology that can be easily deployed and benefits everyone.

What does this award mean to you?

For us, the Business Innovation Award is particularly valuable because it not only rewards sustainability, but also pure product and system innovation. After all, Borro is not just about the ecological impact, but above all about designing a circular system that is technologically smart enough to ensure the optimal fan experience. When I was a student, I won the OVAM Ecodesign Award: the first recognition for my ideas about circular design. Today, it feels very special to have the chance as a team to win the real prize, where not only the idea counts but also the technological maturity, scale and impact we are now achieving.

How did the idea for this project come about?

Borro began as a Deliveroo project focusing on reusable packaging. We soon realised that real scale and impact do not lie with individual containers, but in places where masses of people get together. That’s why we shifted our focus to events and stadiums: places where hundreds of thousands of cups circulate every day. From the beginning, our goal was to design the best fan experience, maximising the system’s integration with existing UX flows such as payments and access controls. Supporters don’t have to learn anything new, everything feels natural. After all, your audience will only spontaneously opt to reuse if ease of use is seamlessly built in.

What makes your project so special?

We have radically simplified reuse: no expensive RFID chips or complex infrastructure, just simple QR codes that make each cup unique and traceable. It means our system is cheap to implement, easy to scale up and perfectly compatible with existing recycling streams. Clubs and organisers don’t have to make expensive investments, supporters experience zero barriers, and return rates are consistently above 90%. What is special about Borro is that it’s an ecosystem design: fan, bar staff and organiser each get an optimal experience, while the system itself remains effortlessly scalable and circular.

How does it contribute to a better world?

Borro eliminates millions of disposable packages every year. Currently, we already save more than 250,000 disposable cups every month. These are huge amounts of plastic that will no longer end up in landfills or nature. But the real value lies in the culture shift: supporters and visitors realise that sustainable behaviour is easier than ever. The norm is transformed: reuse becomes natural, disposable suddenly feels outdated. It not only allows us to build on cleaner stadiums and events, but also a circular reflex that extends far beyond a single event.

Do you have any further plans for this project?

Absolutely. In Belgium, we have now rolled it out at major clubs and events, and that’s just the beginning. Our next step is to expand to multiple countries while opening up new sectors and environments, such as festivals, concert halls and amusement parks. Our larger goal is to become the financial infrastructure for reuse: a universal system that every organiser, every consumer and every city can easily join. Borro aims to serve as the backbone that makes it the obvious choice.