The second-largest city in Denmark is implementing a system for reusing coffee cups.

Customers pay a small fee as a deposit and get their money back when they finish their drink and return the cup.

At a café in Aarhus, customers can opt for a reusable cup, for which they must pay.

Martin Agger, Go' Kaffe: "Customers have to pay five Danish krones (almost 70 euro cents). After you finish your coffee, you can leave the cup in one of the special recycling machines and get your money back".

The municipality has installed 25 such machines in the most crowded areas of the city.

Nicolaj Bang, local councillor: "After you've had your coffee, you take out your phone or card and scan it. It checks if the system is working. Then you put the cup in the machine, and you're supposed to receive five Danish krones in your account".

The cups left in the machines then go to a recycling center. There, they are checked and sanitized before being reintroduced into the system.

Nicolaj Bang, local councillor: "Last year we cleaned the river that passes through the city and collected 100,000 coffee cups. That's a problem. Saturday morning, the city looks like a garbage dump. Recycling reduces microplastic pollution and improves the overall appearance of the city".

Cafés and bars in Aarhus can choose whether or not to participate in this project. 40 companies already sell drinks in reusable cups. The number of those interested in joining this initiative is growing every day.

Joe Hougaard, La Cabra café manager: "We all want to contribute to the fight against litter lying everywhere. Walking down the street, I still see our cups and those of other cafés thrown away".

Locals have shown enthusiasm for the idea.

Local resident: "I think people need to accept the idea that they need to be more careful, that they need to go a little further to such a machine or to the trash can".

The project is funded by the Aarhus municipality and will be in the testing phase for three years. If successful, the Danish authorities plan to include take-away packaging in the same system. For example, pizza.