How many plastic cups eliminated? I hear you say........

How many plastic cups have the AONB North Devon Marathon stopped using over the last 2 years by switching to a plastic free event?

14,000!!!

WOW that is incredible......what an achievement!

HOW DID THEY DO IT?
Their plastic free journey has only taken 2 years to go from 14000 plastic cups and 1600 plastic water bottles to ZERO single use plastic at their event.

AONB Marathon race director, Simon Oliver, had always tried to make the event as low impact as possible and used to sift through the rubbish to send all plastic to be recycled but 2 years ago they decided to make the event plastic free.

With a bit of help and guidance from the Plastic Free North Devon team they now have the tools and knowledge to make every AONB Marathon the same.

Jess Burford Redgrove, Community & Events Fundraiser at the North Devon Hospice, said 'I think at first I worried that we would be told off if we didn’t do it perfectly straight away, but Plastic Free North Devon were incredibly supportive and helpful. They understand that it’s not easy and just helped us to make as many positive steps as possible each year.'

Following our Plastic Free Sports Events Guide they took small steps but made big strides
YEAR ONE:
*Switched to compostable cups
*Water bar for refills
*Encouraged participants to bring their own and sent messaging about reducing plastic
YEAR TWO:
* Switched to participants bringing reusable cups which can be used year after year
* Identified all other single use plastic used (cable ties, signage, medals etc) and found alternative solutions to plastic or made sure they could use each year.

SIMPLE!
Our water bar has also had an upgrade to a 'socially distanced ' water bar ensuring that runners were able to fill up safely during the COVID -19 pandemic. This can be hired for any event.

'It’s fantastic to see runners start to take responsibility for bringing everything that they need so that the event can become less wasteful generally.' says Jess 'It saves time sorting rubbish and as more and more runners get their reusable cups or hydration packs it will save money each year too!'

Are you Interested in having the same impact at your event?

Go to our Plastic Free Sports Event Guide  https://www.plasticfreenorthdevon.org/what-you-can-do-as-an-events-organiser

 OR get in touch plasticfreenorthdevon@gmail.com

And if you want help us keep doing what we are doing......PLEASE DONATE
https://www.plasticfreenorthdevon.org/donate