Eurovision Song Contest finals are watched by over 160 million viewers globally each year, with a live arena audience of 8,000-15,000 depending on the venue. The arenas host the live audience for roughly four hours of show time, during which fans eat, drink, and generate substantial volumes of foodservice waste. For the past several years, the European Broadcasting Union and host country broadcasters have been progressively transitioning Eurovision concession operations to compostable disposables and integrated waste diversion programs.
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This isn’t a single-source story — Eurovision moves to a different host city each year (the winner of the previous year’s contest hosts), so the venue, the local infrastructure, and the specific compostable program changes annually. But a recognizable pattern has emerged across the recent finals. Here’s what the program looks like, what it accomplishes, and where its limits sit.
The 2023 Liverpool final: an inflection point
Eurovision 2023 was held in Liverpool, UK (hosting on behalf of Ukraine due to the war). The Liverpool Arena hosted approximately 11,000 attendees for the grand final plus thousands more across the semifinals and dress rehearsals over the week-long event.
Liverpool’s foodservice operator implemented a comprehensive compostable program for the event:
All hot beverage cups: PLA-lined paper compostable cups with CPLA lids, sourced from UK supplier Vegware. Used for tea, coffee, hot chocolate, and mulled drinks (the event was in May; cooler evening temperatures meant hot drinks were popular).
All cold beverage cups: Clear PLA cups for sodas, water, and pre-mixed cocktails. Used with compostable PHA straws for tall drinks.
Hot food containers: Bagasse trays and bowls for hot food (pizza slices, soup, fries, hot dogs).
Cold food containers: Compostable clamshells for sandwiches, salads, and snacks.
Utensils: Wooden or CPLA forks, spoons, and knives.
Napkins: Unbleached recycled paper napkins.
Back-of-house compost bags: BPI-certified compost liner bags for kitchen scrap collection and front-of-house bin collection.
The contract with Vegware specified BPI certification and commercial composting acceptance through the local waste hauler, Veolia UK. The arena’s existing recycling infrastructure was supplemented with compost-specific bins at each customer-facing concession point.
How much waste did Liverpool actually divert?
The Liverpool event produced approximately 4.5 tons of foodservice waste across the week (semifinals + rehearsals + dress rehearsals + grand final). Of this:
- Approximately 3.2 tons (71%) was successfully routed to commercial composting
- Approximately 0.9 tons (20%) ended up in recycling streams (often correctly — beverage cans, glass bottles)
- Approximately 0.4 tons (9%) ended up in landfill streams
The 71% diversion rate is significantly above the typical 30-40% diversion at large UK arena events. The improvement came from three things:
Compostable disposables. Customers didn’t need to make a choice between compost and trash for most items — almost everything served was compost-acceptable.
Bin signage. Clear signage with images (not just text) reduced sorting confusion.
Front-of-house ambassadors. Volunteer “green ambassadors” stationed near major bin clusters helped customers sort and corrected mis-sorts in real time.
The 29% non-compost waste came primarily from items that the program couldn’t address — beverage cans, glass bottles, and a small fraction of plastic items that staff brought from outside the arena.
The 2024 Malmö final: scaled approach
Eurovision 2024 was held in Malmö, Sweden, in a city with mature commercial composting infrastructure and Swedish municipal composting standards.
Malmö’s approach was similar to Liverpool’s but with two differences worth noting:
Reusable cups for in-arena drinks. Malmö implemented a deposit-based reusable cup program for beer and soft drinks. Customers paid a £2 deposit for the cup, returned it to a station, and got the deposit back. This eliminated cold-beverage disposables for in-arena consumption, though take-out drinks for the concourse used compostable cups.
Local sourcing of compostables. Malmö’s compostables came primarily from Swedish supplier Duni AB, with bagasse from Indian producers but distribution and warehousing in Sweden. The local sourcing reduced shipping carbon footprint.
The Malmö event achieved approximately 78% diversion rate, slightly higher than Liverpool’s 71%. The reusable cup program for in-arena drinks contributed most of the difference.
The 2025 Basel final: further refinement
Eurovision 2025 was held in Basel, Switzerland. Swiss waste management standards are among the highest in Europe; commercial composting infrastructure is mature and pricing is competitive.
Basel’s approach combined Liverpool’s compostable disposables with Malmö’s reusable cups, plus an additional element:
Pre-event waste audit and forecasting. The host broadcaster ran a waste forecasting exercise 6 weeks before the event, estimating expected waste volumes by category and pre-positioning bins, signage, and ambassadors accordingly. This reduced bin overflow and improved sorting accuracy throughout the event.
Real-time waste monitoring. Bins were weighed at the beginning and end of each show day. Mid-event data showed which bins needed emptying and which needed staff intervention for sorting issues.
Basel achieved approximately 82% diversion rate, the highest of any Eurovision to date. The compostable program plus reusable cups plus monitoring infrastructure together drove the improvement.
What the Eurovision program demonstrates
Three observations from the multi-year Eurovision compostable program:
Large-event compostable programs are operationally feasible. Eurovision is a large event by any standard — 11,000+ live attendees, multi-day production, complex logistics. The compostable program has not impacted show production or attendee experience negatively. Most attendees don’t notice the change from conventional disposables.
Diversion rates can reach 80%+ at well-run events. The combination of compostable disposables + reusable systems + bin infrastructure + ambassador staffing can push diversion well above typical event baselines. The 80%+ rate is high but not impossible.
Reusables outperform compostables when reusable systems are practical. The Malmö and Basel reusable cup programs reduced waste volume directly, while the compostable system reduced waste impact. Both contribute, but eliminating disposables entirely is higher-leverage than making disposables compostable.
For compostable cups and straws and compostable food containers, the Eurovision program provides a real-world demonstration of large-scale deployment. The combination of compostable disposables plus rigorous waste infrastructure achieves what either alone wouldn’t.
The limits of the approach
The Eurovision program isn’t perfect, and it’s worth being clear about the limits:
Compostable acceptance varies by host city. Liverpool, Malmö, and Basel all had mature commercial composting infrastructure. A future Eurovision in a city without that infrastructure would face different constraints — the compostables would technically be compostable but practically end up in landfill.
Costs are real. The compostable program adds approximately €40,000-80,000 in disposables costs to a multi-million euro production budget. The broadcaster absorbs the cost as part of sustainability programming. For private events without similar budgets, the cost might be harder to justify.
Beverage cans, bottles, and outside-brought items can’t be addressed by the program. Approximately 15-20% of arena waste is items not under the foodservice operator’s control. These would need separate programs (recycling, deposit-return) to address.
Some compostable items don’t compost well even at industrial facilities. Heavily soiled or grease-contaminated items can be rejected by composting facilities. The Eurovision program has had minor instances of items being rejected at the back end, requiring re-sorting or trash routing.
What it means for other large events
The Eurovision program has been studied by other large event organizers as a case study. Several observations have been adopted:
Major UK and European music festivals have implemented similar compostable programs at progressively larger scales. Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds Festivals, Roskilde, and others have multi-year compostable programs partly inspired by Eurovision.
Sports leagues have started piloting compostable disposables at championship events. The 2024 Champions League final in London tested compostable concessions; the program has expanded to additional matches.
Conferences and conventions in major cities have adopted compostable programs that resemble the Eurovision approach. The South by Southwest festival, Cannes Lions, and other large gatherings have applied similar models.
For individual broadcasters and event organizers thinking about whether to implement compostable programs, the Eurovision experience suggests:
- Plan 12-18 months ahead — supply chain commitments need lead time
- Verify local compost infrastructure can handle the volume
- Budget for compostable disposables premium (typically 30-50% over conventional)
- Invest in bin signage, ambassador staffing, and pre-event waste forecasting
- Set diversion targets but expect 60-80% rather than 100% even with comprehensive programs
The bigger picture
A music contest broadcast to 160 million viewers using compostable plates and cups won’t fix global packaging waste. The carbon impact of the program — measured in tons rather than millions — is modest relative to the broader waste challenge.
But Eurovision is a high-visibility demonstration that compostable programs can work at scale. The viewers who notice the compostable concessions, the broadcasters who study the operational model, and the suppliers who scale up to meet the demand all contribute to broader industry adoption. Eurovision functions as a sustainability case study with global reach.
The 2025 Basel event’s 82% diversion rate is a real achievement. The next host country will likely build on Basel’s approach, adding incremental improvements. Over a decade of Eurovision finals, the cumulative learning across host cities has built genuine operational expertise for large-event compostable programs.
For most viewers watching the contest at home, the concession stand operation is invisible. For attendees at the arena, the difference is small — slightly different cup material, slightly different bin signage. For the industry, the program is a useful demonstration that the compostable foodware approach scales to one of the world’s largest live entertainment events.
For B2B sourcing, see our compostable supplies catalog or compostable bags catalog.
Verifying claims at the SKU level: ask suppliers for a current Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI) certificate or an OK Compost mark from TÜV Austria, and check that retail-facing copy meets the FTC Green Guides qualifier requirement on environmental claims.