The CARE project, reusable cup vimaranense, emerged in 2018, developed by the municipal company VITRUS, to suppress the challenge of the necessary decrease in the use of traditional single-use plastic cups. In yet another example, of the Governance Model implemented in Guimarães, this project involves the public sector, the private sector and citizens. The involvement of the population in this project assigns responsibility to each one in reducing the production, consumption and disposal of the most polluting material on the planet. In this way, citizens contribute to the reduction of the population, while reducing the economic impact in the production of a new glass. In addition to all these added values, the project contributes decisively to the transition to a circular economy, based on the promotion of a sharing economy based on ecological and social awareness.
The system adopted for the acquisition of cups was the deposit system, whereby the customer acquires the cup in the establishment, uses it, reuses it and can later return it to a participating bar. Customers are, therefore, the main actor in this action to make Guimarães cleaner of waste.