Disposable cups remain deeply embedded in Sweden’s takeaway culture, despite a law introduced in 2024 requiring food service businesses to offer reusable alternatives. According to the anti-littering organisation Keep Sweden Tidy (Håll Sverige Rent), Swedes use around one billion single-use cups every year, while only one in ten consumers say they have actually been offered a reusable cup.
The figures point to a gap between regulation and everyday practice. Sweden has moved further than many countries by placing a direct obligation on cafés, restaurants and other food service outlets. But the new rules have not yet changed consumer behaviour on a large scale.
Sweden’s disposable cups problem
Six in ten Swedes order drinks in single-use cups several times a month, according to Keep Sweden Tidy. The organisation links this habit to high resource use and littering, particularly because many takeaway cups contain plastic linings that make recycling more difficult.
The Swedish regulation, which entered into force in 2024, requires businesses that sell drinks in disposable cups to offer customers a reusable alternative. The cup does not have to be free. Businesses may sell it, as long as consumers are given the option.
The purpose is not only to reduce litter, but also to move the takeaway sector away from a model based on short-lived packaging. Sweden has a national target to reduce the consumption of single-use plastic cups and food containers by 50% by 2026, compared with 2022 levels.
Yet awareness remains limited. Keep Sweden Tidy says only seven in ten consumers know that the law exists. Even among those who are offered a reusable cup, most still choose a disposable one.
Josefin Carlring, CEO of Keep Sweden Tidy, described the situation as a deadlock.
“We have ended up in a stalemate where restaurants are waiting for consumers, and consumers do not even know about the law,” she told SVT.
Why the Swedish law is struggling
The Swedish case shows that a legal obligation is not always enough to change habits. A reusable cup must be visible, easy to choose and easy to return. Without that infrastructure, consumers often stay with the fastest option.
For businesses, the problem is practical. Reusable cups require cleaning, storage and a system for collecting them after use. For customers, the problem is convenience. Buying or carrying a reusable cup can feel less attractive than accepting a disposable one, especially for commuters or occasional takeaway customers.
Keep Sweden Tidy argues that Sweden may need stronger economic incentives. The organisation wants the government to consider either a tax, a fee or a ban on disposable cups. Carlring pointed to Sweden’s previous tax on plastic bags as an example of how price signals can quickly change consumer behaviour.
A fee on single-use cups would make the cost of disposable packaging visible at the point of purchase. A ban would go further, but would require a reliable alternative system to avoid creating problems for small businesses.
Denmark is testing deposit-based reuse
Denmark has taken a different route. Instead of relying mainly on a national obligation at the counter, Danish cities have become testing grounds for deposit-based reusable packaging systems.
Aarhus launched a three-year reusable takeaway packaging pilot in January 2024. The system allows consumers to buy drinks in reusable cups and return them through automated collection machines. By the end of the first year, more than 750,000 reusable cups had been returned in the city. Later data from the European Commission’s Green City Accord platform reported more than 1.6 million returned cups between January 2024 and December 2025, with a 91% return rate.
The Danish model is significant because it reduces the burden on individual cafés. Instead of each business building its own solution, the city provides a shared return infrastructure. This makes reuse closer to the bottle deposit systems that Nordic consumers already know.
Copenhagen has also tested reusable takeaway packaging. During the Copenhagen Sprint event in 2025, more than 12,500 reusable packaging units were used, including more than 10,000 cups. The average return rate was about 87.5%, while discarded packaging accounted for less than 1% of the total.
These are still pilots, not proof of a nationwide transition. But they suggest that reusable cups are more likely to work when consumers can return them easily across a local network.
Norway focuses on bans and plastic reduction
Norway’s approach is different again. The country has implemented restrictions on certain single-use plastic products, including a ban on expanded polystyrene (EPS) drinking cups and food packaging that entered into force in July 2021.
Norwegian data also shows that disposable beverage packaging is a relevant issue, even if the scale differs from Sweden. A report prepared for the Norwegian Environment Agency estimated that Norway consumed around 106 million beverage cups and lids in 2018, generating about 1,490 tonnes of waste.
The Norwegian strategy has focused heavily on reducing the environmental impact of single-use plastic products through bans, marking requirements and producer responsibility. Unlike Denmark’s city pilots, Norway has not become known for a large urban return system for takeaway cups. Unlike Sweden, it has not placed the same public emphasis on a national consumer-facing obligation to offer reusable cups in ordinary cafés.
This makes Norway a more regulatory case: the state limits the most problematic products, while broader reuse systems remain less visible in daily takeaway culture.
A Nordic divide on reusable cups
The Nordic comparison shows three different models. Sweden has a national rule requiring reusable alternatives, but weak consumer visibility. Denmark is experimenting with shared return systems that make reuse more practical. Norway has focused on bans and plastic reduction, with less emphasis on a nationwide cup-return infrastructure.
The coming years will test which model is more effective. EU rules are also moving in the same direction. The new Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation aims to reduce packaging waste, make packaging recyclable by 2030 and expand reuse across the single market. Takeaway businesses will also face new obligations to allow customers to bring their own containers and to increase reusable options.
For Sweden, the immediate problem is implementation. A law that consumers rarely encounter at the counter cannot significantly reduce disposable cups. Denmark’s pilots suggest that return systems may be more effective than information alone. Norway shows that bans can remove some products, but do not automatically create a reuse culture.
The Nordic countries are often seen as leaders in environmental policy. On takeaway cups, however, the region is still searching for a model that combines regulation, convenience and consumer habits. Without that combination, the disposable cup will remain a small object with a large environmental footprint.
