NBA India are repurposing discarded underwater fishing nets into basketball nets. SOS Kit Aid work with World Rugby to avoid waste by distributing second-hand and new rugby kits to disadvantaged youngsters all over the globe.

Food

Globally, 25–30% of total food produced is lost or wasted. Food waste is estimated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to contribute 8-10% of total man-made greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimated in 2019 that just under 40,000 tonnes of food waste were created by sports events each year.

Food waste can happen during preparation and by lack of consumption. Efforts are taking place to reduce this waste within sport, but donating surplus food, composting and food waste-to-energy through anaerobic digestion efforts are increasing.

Platforms like Too Good To Go and Olio make donating surplus food easy. World Athletics Indoor Championships Glasgow 24 organisers recently partnered with a food bank to redistribute all surplus food from the event. Food Recovery Network, a college student-powered nonprofit, managed to salvage 4,000 pounds of food from this year’s Super Bowl.

In 2022, Manchester City FC completed a successful trial of a processor that produces high calorific value residue in the form of an inert compost type material which was used as a soil enhancer under shrubs and hedging areas around City Football Academy.

Plastics

The UK’s Environment Agency estimates that major sporting events can generate up to 750,000 plastic bottles apiece. Reduction of single use plastic bottles and packaging across sport is being prioritised, either led by sport themselves or via enacted policy.

The City of Paris has banned single-use plastic from the 2024 Olympic Games, and New York City Council has enacted legislation requiring operators of sports stadiums and arenas to allow attendees to bring refillable beverage containers into events. Many sports stadia and events have made these changes themselves, with moves such as increasing water fountains at stadia for fans, players and staff.

On the recycling front, Spanish football club Real Betis partnered with Gravity Wave to create new stadium seats made from ocean plastic waste from the Mediterranean. In 2021 Ralph Lauren turned tennis ball cans into US Open uniforms, with more than 90 pieces made from 560 pounds of plastic tennis ball cans. In Bamako, Mali, the ‘Saniya Sira’ (or ‘healthy course’ in local language) sports complex built from the recycling of 8 million plastic bags into paving stones was inaugurated in 2022.

Carbon Fibre

Combining super strength with being lightweight, carbon fibre is an important material for efficiency in many industries globally and is used in sports materials and equipment. 50% of Summer Olympic sports and 90% of Winter Olympic Sports use equipment that includes carbon fibre. In watersports it the perfect material for surfboards, water skis, kayaks and canoes, rowing shells and oars. In motorsport, the combination of strength, lightweight properties, and poor heat conduction makes it an ideal material for race cars. However it is extremely difficult to recycle and to date, no sustainable end of life solution has been available for carbon fibre.

The World Sailing Trust are looking to change this with The Carbon Fibre Alliance and Carbon Fibre Circular Demonstration Project. McLaren Racing’s Formula 1 team will be trialling the use of cutting-edge recycled carbon fibre (rCF) at this year’s US Grand Prix.

Systems Transformation

At a Pledgeball fan engagement event recently, Lorraine Whitmarsh MBE spoke about the importance of behaviour change, and referenced research by Dr Diana Ivanova on ‘Quantifying the potential for climate change mitigation of consumption options’.

In other words, what options have we got at our disposal that will actually impact the climate crisis. Recommendations (particularly in high-income context) were living car-free, taking fewer long haul flights, moving to renewable energy and having a vegan diet. These actions can reduce our individual carbon footprint from anywhere between 0.8 – 2 tonnes CO₂eq/capita/yr. This research showed that recycling saved 0.01 tonnes CO₂eq/capita/yr.

That isn’t to say that we shouldn’t recycle. Whilst issues such as contamination and the energy and resources needed are important to consider, recycling can save energy and prevent the extraction of raw materials. It can help reduce waste, and therefore pollution. Recycling can reduce environmental impact as a whole, and hopefully contribute to more sustainable lifestyles. However it’s clear that we must now shift to refuse, reduce, reuse urgently.

Recycling is crucial to tackle the current levels of waste we have created. However, it is not enough to carry on the business as usual, linear/recycling economy of production and consumption, safe in the knowledge that (insert item here) can be recycled. Environmentalists fear that if people buy products thinking everything will be recycled and reused, it allows them to keep consuming at high levels with a clean conscience. Wider transformation must happen now for a true circular economy, where waste is not created in the first place. Sport, as a purchaser, role model and influencer, can play a key role in this shift. As Annie Leonard said ‘there is no such thing as ‘away.’ When we throw anything away it must go somewhere.’