London Marathon Events Releases Sustainability Report
London Marathon Events (LME), has published its first ever environmental report into the delivery of sustainable mass participation events.
The organisation, which runs a series of mass participation events in the UK including the Virgin Money London Marathon and Prudential RideLondon, says the report aims to ‘inspire and deliver innovation in mass participation event sustainability.’
The report – entitled Leaving the Right Impression – sets out the waste, emissions and products produced and used across all of LME’s events, and at their headquarters and warehouse in 2019.
It details how much is recycled and reused, and assesses some of the ground-breaking initiatives it trialled at the 2019 London Marathon, including the 700 bottle belts made from 90% recycled plastic which were worn by runners. LME says those runners reduced their plastic bottle use by 40%, but also also reported the belt had a positive impact on performance.
The organisation’s report also highlighted a trial of 36,000 Lucozade Sport Ooho pods – hydration capsules packaged in edible seaweed pods instead of plastic bottles to reduce waste. LME says 83% of the runners who responded to a post-race survey rated them as good or excellent.
Hugh Brasher, Event Director, London Marathon Events, said: “We want to protect our natural environment and ensure our events leave as small an environmental footprint as possible.
“In the past year, we have invested in research, innovation and resources to minimise our environmental impact and have already launched initiatives that have the potential to change profoundly the delivery of mass participation events worldwide.
“The work we have done means that we have a much clearer understanding of our impacts and can better plan how we reduce them in future. We know there is still much more to do but we are passionate about and fully committed to reducing our environmental impact and leading the way in delivering sustainable mass participation sports events.”
The report also outlines the proposed targets for 2020, set before the coronavirus pandemic which forced the cancellation of this London Marathon as well as the Vitality London 10K, and the Vitality Westminster Mile.
