Better late than never. The electronic music festival Tomorrowland has decided to completely switch to reusable cups during the next edition of its festival which will be held on the weekends of July 18 and 25, 2025, announced Jo Brouns, the Flemish Minister of the Environment , in front of the regional parliament this Tuesday.
Unlike all other big festivals, the most famous electronic music festival in the world had decided not to respect the legislation dating from 2023 which now requires events to serve drinks only in reusable cups, PET plastic bottles ( petrosourced) and cans.
During its last edition, Tomorrowland continued to use disposable cups, which earned it a fine of 727,000 euros. “An official report was drawn up this summer by the regional entities responsible for applying the fines. They determined that Tomorrowland had to pay a fine of 27,200 euros, to which was added a capital gain of 700,000 euros. This is the amount they saved by not respecting the rules,” detailed Ann Heylens, spokesperson for the environment department.
No exception for Tomorrowland
In 2023, when the legislation was already in place, Tomorrowland had obtained an exemption to be able to continue using disposable cups despite the implementation of this rule occurring only a few weeks before the launch of the event.
The famous festival, which attracts nearly half a million people from all over the world each year, defended itself at the time by indicating that it wanted to sell off its stock of disposable cups, and that it was not not “prepared to provide, wash and store such a volume of reusable cups”.
“My administration has carried out an assessment of the legislation and the availability of cups and washing facilities,” said Jo Brouns. “It shows that the market for cup suppliers and washing facilities has evolved considerably. So I do not see the need to make any adjustments at the moment,” he added, leaving Tomorrowland with no other choice but to comply with the rules, under penalty of receiving a new considerable fine.
