Mainzer WeinUfer 2026

A large wine festival in Germany is switching its food service to reusable tableware with automated return. The organiser, mainzplus, describes the pilot as unique in Germany. At the Mainzer Weinmarkt 2026, four partners run the system together: Rent.Group, CircleCube, koziol and mainzplus.

What guests and stallholders get

Guests pay a deposit for every plate or bowl and get it back when they return the item at one of eight machines on the festival grounds. It costs guests nothing, there are no coins to count and queues get shorter. Stallholders do not need their own dishwashing set-up. The machines sort the returned items and pass them on to logistics and central cleaning.

How the partners work together

• CircleCube develops the modular return machines.
• koziol supplies plates and bowls made from biocircular plastics with an RFID tag, so every piece can be followed from the stall to the machine and into the dishwasher.
• Rent.Group runs the circular process, from supplying the tableware to reprocessing it.
• mainzplus is the organiser and chose its partners deliberately.

Results of the test run

At the Mainzer WeinUfer (14 to 17 May 2026) with more than 70,000 visitors, the pilot avoided around 10,000 single-use containers and one tonne of residual waste, according to the organiser. The test also gave us data on how quickly and reliably guests used the machines and whether they prefer cash or a card for the deposit.

What comes next

The Weinmarkt takes place from 27 to 30 August and from 3 to 6 September 2026 in the Mainz Stadtpark, with up to 300,000 visitors over eight days. mainzplus expects to save up to 50,000 single-use containers and up to five tonnes of waste. The organiser plans to use the system at further events.

Source: press release by mainzplus GmbH, 31 August 2026.