Press Release - London Marathon - 5/5/20

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

        London Marathon Events publishes first environmental report

London Marathon Events (LME) has today published its first environmental 
report – Leaving the Right Impression – as it aims to lead the way in 
delivering sustainable mass participation sports events.

LME organises world-leading mass participation events, including the Virgin 
Money London Marathon and Prudential RideLondon, and has led the world in 
showing the power of mass participation sport as a force for good. Now LME 
is committed to inspire and deliver innovation in mass participation event 
sustainability.

This comprehensive report, the first of its kind in the organisation's 
history, 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 Virgin Money London 
Marathon, including:

Bottle belts made from 90 per cent recycled materials. 700 runners used the 
belts and recorded how much water they used and on average a runner with a 
belt used just over 40% less bottles than a runner without a belt. Runners 
reported that using a bottle belt had a positive effect on their 
performance as they had access to more convenient and regular hydration. 
This has the potential to significantly reduce the number of plastic 
bottles used and water wasted.

Lucozade Sport Oohos – In the largest trial of its kind in the world, 
Lucozade Sport was distributed to runners in 36,000 edible seaweed capsules 
instead of plastic bottles. In the post-race survey 83 per cent of the 
respondents who tried them rated them as good or excellent.

A closed loop recycling system and improved collection process for plastic 
bottles in Tower Hamlets, Greenwich, Southwark and Canary Wharf. Bottles 
used in these boroughs were collected, bailed and returned directly to 
Buxton and Lucozade Sport where they were recycled into new product. This 
provided vital data and lessons for LME on how waste is managed at water 
stations and has improved collection and recycling at all LME events.

The report also outlines the proposed targets for 2020 but these were set 
before the global Covid-19 pandemic. Currently the Virgin Money London 
Marathon, the Vitality London 10,000 and the Vitality Westminster Mile have 
been postponed and the 2020 events may not take place in the format they 
were intended at the start of the year. However, LME is committed to 
achieving the targets where it can and in the future.

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."

LME has also signed up to the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework as 
part of its ongoing commitment to be the global leader in sustainable mass 
participation sports events. This UN initiative aims at supporting and 
guiding sports in achieving global climate change goals.

LME continues to collaborate with other major event organisers in the UK 
and internationally to share learning and collectively drive innovation and 
change in sustainability practices.

                                     ###