StatieHeld tested recycling bins where festival-goers could hand in their bottles and cans and get their deposit back digitally. Despite some minor start-up problems (one of the sensors did not work, so had to be taken out), the entrepreneurs spoke of a successful weekend. Valerie van Zuijlen, Creative Director at StatieHeld: “We placed two bins at the entrances to the festival and on the very first day we managed to fill three 240-liter garbage bags. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive; people are happy to have an easy way to dispose of their cans and bottles and get their deposit back at the same time. Unfortunately, we also noticed that there were a significant number of international visitors who were unable to use the deposit because of our partnership with Tikkie. I see huge potential in this initiative, because since April 2023 there are deposit systems for cans, but they only work in supermarkets. We have pioneered a kind of pop-up approach that simplifies and streamlines this process.”