Liverpool supporters travelling to Austria for a Champions League match against LASK found an unexpected way to recover some spending money: collecting reusable drinking cups covered by the club’s deposit system and claiming the cashback.
Reports said many fans spent the evening and the period after the match gathering discarded cups from stands and concourses. The cups were subject to a deposit, so returning them converted leftover beer containers into refunds. The club has promoted a plastic-free stadium model and uses returnable containers to reduce single-use waste.
A circular-economy signal for stadium packaging
The episode places a practical deposit-return system in the spotlight. Such schemes depend on clear return points, consistent deposits and enough collection capacity to keep containers in circulation. The Austrian club’s model shows how reusable packaging can be integrated into high-volume venue operations, although the available details do not quantify return rates or overall waste reduction.
UEFA says it is placing greater emphasis on circular-economy measures at its club competitions. Liverpool, meanwhile, has publicised its own recycling record at Anfield, saying more than one million plastic bottles have been recycled there over the past three seasons.
For packaging and venue operators, the lesson is less about the windfall for fans than about infrastructure: deposits can create a visible incentive for returns, but the environmental outcome depends on how reliably containers are collected, cleaned and reused.