A greener music festival: Englisch hören und verstehen

Sophie: The festival team says its new reusable cups made this year's event much greener. I'm here with organiser Tom beside the food stalls. Tom, you collected forty per cent less rubbish than last year. Does that figure tell the whole story?

Tom: Not quite. Heavy rain meant fewer people came, so part of the fall was simply due to lower attendance. We need to compare waste per visitor. Still, volunteers found far fewer cups on the ground, and most customers returned theirs to get their deposit back.

Sophie: One visitor said the queue for returning cups was so long that she left hers behind. Another took a cup home as a souvenir. If cups disappear after one use, doesn't that weaken the environmental argument?

Tom: It does. A reusable cup only fulfils its purpose if it comes back and gets used again. We placed the return point next to the busiest food stall, which was a mistake. Next year we'll have separate return points near both exits, with volunteers directing people there.

Sophie: So a good idea can be undermined by the way it's organised. You've also introduced water refill stations. Are people using them, or are they still buying bottled water? And what would count as convincing evidence that the whole system is working?

Tom: We haven't measured refill use yet, so I won't claim a success there. Next time we'll record it, track how many cups come back, and calculate waste per visitor. I'm pleased with the cleaner site, but a photograph of an empty field isn't enough to prove we've reduced our impact.