Think Beyond Working to Eliminate Plastic Waste In the Sports Industry
July 5, 2024
In honor of Plastic Free July – an initiative by the Australia-based Plastic Free Foundation to reduce global plastic waste – we're highlighting social impact and sustainability consultancy Think Beyond’s event work on environmental responsibility. Currently, there is an estimated 75 to 199 million tons of plastic waste currently in our oceans, with the sports sector contributing 750,000 plastic bottles apiece at major sporting events.
This year’s Plastic Free July campaign focuses on small changes each of us can make to reduce plastic waste in line with the initiative's ‘small steps, big difference’ slogan. Each year, millions of people from across 190 countries commemorate the day by coming together and refusing single-use plastic. Unlike other materials, plastic does not biodegrade and can take up to 1,000 years to break down. Therefore, when it is discarded unsafely and not recycled, this pollution can kill marine life, damage soil and position groundwater in addition to its serious health impacts.
The global sports industry contributes to this issue through its waste from food, apparel, merchandise, signage, equipment, food and drink packaging and more. Additionally, major sporting events generate hundreds of thousands of plastic waste from bottles and food containers. However, in recent years, reducing single-use plastic bottles and recycling across sports events has been a priority for many sports organizations, clubs and events. For instance, 80% of waste collected during the FIFA World Cup in Qatar 2022 was recycled and the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympic Games have banned single-use plastic altogether.
One of Think Beyond’s main focus areas is to help the sports industry and other companies initiate programs to help combat climate change and become more sustainable. Across teams, leagues, brands, venues and events, it helps foster a healthier sports industry and planet through sustainability frameworks and systems. This includes helping companies and clubs introduce sustainability strategies and streamlining existing environmental efforts to maximize positive climate impact. One of those clubs is Liverpool FC (LFC).
“Sustainability is a core pillar of our approach, where we support our clients to become more Sustainable Organizations and foster a healthier industry for people and planet. This is just one aspect of our four pillars, including: Purposeful Leaders, Impactful Programs and Inspiring Communications. There are few platforms more powerful than football, and Liverpool FC is one of the most well-recognized sporting organizations on the planet,” said Sam Shave, Think Beyond Managing Partner.
Think Beyond supported LFC in developing its carbon emission inventory, biodiversity action plan and water and waste management systems. The consultancy worked to consolidate these previously fragmented and siloed initiatives into a world-leading strategy - ‘The Red Way’ - that positions the Club to lead the way on governance in this space. It created the implementation framework that enabled LFC to become the first Premier League Club certified to the ISO20121 standard – widely recognized as the gold standard for sustainable event management. Additionally, for the second consecutive year, LFC has topped the Sport Positive League as the most environmentally sustainable Premier League football club.
LFC has worked with its commercial partners on various plastic-saving programs, including "Don't Lose Your Bottle," which aimed to improve plastic recycling and educate LFC fans on the plastic life cycle. Partners also supported the LFC Foundation on their Big Red Summer program, distributing 7,500 reusable bottles throughout Liverpool that helped save over 315,000 200ml single-use plastic bottles going to landfill. The Club has increased the recycling rate of plastic bottles used at LFC’s Anfield Stadium from 25% at the start of 2021 to 86% at the end of 2022. 98% of fans handed back reusable cups on match days.
“We have been working with LFC since the launch of The Red Way in 2021. We have a very collaborative relationship and have supported them to truly embed The Red Way into the organization, which we built around a certified ISO20121 sustainability management system...It is the transparent and credible approach that The Red Way has used which has set Liverpool apart from the rest as a leading organization in global sports and sustainability and led to numerous awards such as being named the 'Most Sustainable Football Club in Europe's top 5 leagues' and most recently, a prestigious Sports Industry Award for Environmental Sustainability,” said Shave.
Think Beyond also worked with the World Athletics Indoor Championships (WAIC) in Glasgow 2024, which took place March 1-3. The event became the first to be awarded platinum recognition against the Athletics for a Better World Standard – a certification that evaluates and scores an event’s achievements in sustainable event delivery. , the consultancy worked to develop and implement sustainable practices to set a new benchmark for World Athletics events and create innovative solutions on reducing plastic waste and carbon emissions.
Working with WAIC and UK Sport, efforts were made to decrease the event’s carbon emissions and waste – food, water and plastic – by implementing digital ticketing, providing wooden cutlery, using metal trays from previous events and encouraging the use of reusable water bottles. Additionally, catering tokens were created from old DVD cases, which were then collected rather than thrown away at the end of the event to be recycled into other products.
Please join the global movement to create solutions to plastic pollution. Take part in the Plastic Free Challenge by reducing single-use plastic waste every day at home, work, school and beyond.
Think Beyond is a trusted member of Beyond Sport’s Network