The end of the Würmtal cup

Created: 04/01/2022, 17:37

By: Lara Listl

Peter Sickinger has been offering customers a reusable ceramic cup in his Würmtal branches since April.

© Dagmar Rutt

It was a novelty in terms of environmental protection when Hans Sickinger brought the idea of ​​the Würmtal cup to life in 2017.

But now the joint project of the Würmtal communities is history.

Peter Sickinger gives the reasons and offers a plastic-free alternative in his branches.

Würmtal

- "We didn't want to discontinue the Würmtal cup, but we were forced to do so," says Peter Sickinger, Managing Director of the bakery of the same name.

His uncle, the previous managing director and now retired Hans Sickinger, started the joint deposit project in 2017 with the Würmtal communities.

According to Graefelfing's business promoter Sabine Strack, 32 companies and branches in the Würmtal initially gave the environmentally friendly reusable cup over their counters.

And took it back for a deposit of one euro.

But little by little, the supermarkets and bakeries involved quietly became fewer, reports Peter Sickinger.

"In the end, we were the last ones to keep the Würmtal mug alive." Sickinger ordered around 500 to 1,000 new mugs every eight weeks, but only hundreds of the thousands that had been issued returned.

"A deposit system is good and environmentally friendly, but certainly not convenient," says Sickinger.

The final end of the Würmtal mug was then sealed by a call from the manufacturer that a Munich company was trying to force it off the market.

While the Würmtal was initially one of the pioneers with its own deposit system, such reusable systems are still spreading today.

Efforts on the part of Sickinger to work together with the company and to offer their cups together with a Germany-wide deposit system in the Sickinger sales outlets did not work out.

So the bakery called for the return of the Würmtal cups.

The last remaining stocks went over the counter at the beginning of the year.

Sickinger donated the approximately 200 to 300 returned items to the "Helping Hands" association.

Since for him the environment is "number one imperative", Sickinger immediately went in search of an environmentally friendly alternative to the Würmtal cup.

He found what he was looking for in two respects: From April, a reusable, climate-neutrally produced reusable ceramic cup with a silicone lid will be available in all six branches in the Würmtal.

It costs 14.50 euros.

You can order coffee and scan points using a customer card.

The first filling and every eleventh coffee are free.

In addition, customers can now drink their coffee to go from organically certified disposable cups.

These are made in Germany and, together with the lid, consist exclusively of 100 percent recycled waste paper.

The bakery digs deep into their pockets for this: