Pledge
By taking the Pledge TODAY you join olympians, elite athletes, sports fans, fun runners and other individuals who have been touched by sport in some way. All on a mission together.
Choose a minimum of 3 to get involved.
Take my own water bottle
What can I do?
The Problem: Sources - The Guardian and plasticocean.org
Over 1 million single use plastic bottles are sold every minute globally. 480 billion were sold back in 2016. If placed end to end, they would extend more than halfway to the sun! These numbers are only increasing.
14% of all litter comes from drinks containers.
Difficulties:
This sounds like a simple one, but can be tricky, especially when traveling. Airports often have re-fill points and any cafe or restaurant will fill up your bottle for free. If you are abroad and worried about the water quality - try bringing your own filter bottle - check out this blog for ideas: https://toomanyadapters.com/5-best-water- purifiers-travel/
Always look for the best option:
If you have to resort to single use for whatever reason (from personal experience even with the best will in the world, sometimes this is the only option - buy the biggest bottles you can find and decant into your water bottle throughout your trip. Make sure you dispose of them in the best way available - ideally recycling.
Take my own coffee & beverage cups, food containers & cutlery
What can I do?
The Problem: Sources - WWF and earthday.org
Americans alone throw away 25 billion styrofoam coffee cups every year. Styrofoam cannot be completely recycled. Most of the Styrofoam disposed of today will still be present in landfills 500 years from now. Food and beverage containers are one of the most common forms of plastic pollution found in the oceans.
Think football stadiums, cricket matches or basketball games - all sporting events really! The scenes at these stadiums and arenas post game or match often see single use plastic littered everywhere. Used for 5 minutes and then discarded to be around on our planet for hundreds if not thousands of years.
Difficulties:
You are most likely to get caught out with this at sporting events, travelling to a competition or going for a coffee post gym!
Always look for the best option:
It’s a hassle to bring your own, but if you accept you need to bring a rucksack or bag with you, then it’s actually pretty easy. If you really can’t bring your own, research the event you are going to and see whether they supply non single use plastic options for drinks and food.
Refuse Plastic Straws
What can I do?
If you love a straw - carry your own metal one around, there are some really cool ones out there. Otherwise, give it a miss!
The Problem: Sources - StrawlessOcean.org
Most plastic straws are too lightweight to make it through the mechanical recycling sorter. They drop through sorting screens and mix with other materials and are too small to separate, contaminating recycling loads or getting disposed as rubbish. They are high on the list of plastic the causes the most harm to sea life.
Difficulties:
Get used to saying this as you order your drink! I’ve been caught out not saying it and then getting a drink with a straw in and it’s too late! Most likely to be caught out at a sporting event or watching sport at a bar or big screen.
Always look for the best option:
If you forget to ask for no straw and are given a straw in your drink, make sure you tell the staff you don’t want a straw next time and that they should ask customers whether they need a straw or not.
Leave no trace
What can I do?
I live by the mantra that everywhere I go should be left cleaner than how I found it. It doesn’t have to be an organised beach clean, or stadium clean to pick up rubbish. Anytime, anywhere. Post run, pre swim, after a football game. It all adds up. Just make sure you dispose of it the best way possible - ideally recycle any single use plastic.
The Problem:
Somebody else will clean up after me...yes - us! Any litter left on the ground is liable to blow into waterways, streams and rivers which all end up in the ocean. Once it reaches the ocean, it become so much harder to clean up and will most likely degrade into micro plastics and stay in our environment forever.
Refuse single-use plastic packaging and bags
What can I do?
The Problem: Sources - National Geographic
Plastic packaging makes up about 40% of all plastic production globally! USed just once, and then thrown away. It’s an easy win!!
We all buy gym/sport clothes and equipment which generally comes fully wrapped in single use plastic packaging - which is completely un-necessary. We remove it from it’s packaging immediately and then discard it.
Difficulties:
We often get given things at sporting events that are already packaged. I always make a point of unwrapping it and giving it back to the shop owner or event organisation and point out that it didn’t need to be in packaging or in a single use plastic bag.
Encourage sports clubs and events to find alternatives to single use plastic
What can I do?
The Problem:
If we say nothing, organisers do nothing. Our voices matter. It is cheaper and easier for things not to change, but when it comes to the planet we are rapidly running out of time. We need change now and we have the power to help it happen faster.
Difficulties:
People could respond negatively, make sure you are polite and solution focussed.
Reading for inspiration:
http://www.sustainableclubs.co.uk/
https://www.sporttechie.com/best-examples-of-going-green-in-sports/
Make your own event merchandise
What can I do?
The Problem:
Whether you are competing at a sporting event or supporting your favourite team, we all get drawn in to event merchandise! The foam hands, the pom poms, the whistles. There is nothing wrong with this! But, it can have a significant impact on the environment. If we don’t really need it in our lives and we only use it once before throwing it away, it essentially becomes single use plastic, even though it’s not classified as ‘single use plastic’.
Make informed choices
What can I do?
The Problem:
So much of our waste ends up not being recycled, or composted or put in the wrong place because of our lack of understanding of what means what! Don’t get me wrong, the system is a nightmare! Globally we should have a solution that logos, colours and words are universal! But we don’t...so it's up to us to be informed and make sure any waste we have goes in the right place and doesn’t contaminate any efforts to recycle.
Difficulties:
This is always challenging as there's so much confusing and contradicting information out there.. Often something which sounds positive, actually causes more harm than it might seem. Read up and understand more about your waste and where it goes. The better informed we all are, the more we can demand and do!
Spread the word of Big Plastic Pledge
What can I do?
Submit your pledges now
SubmitYour pledge
Once you’ve chosen your pledges and submitted them you will see how impactful we are becoming as a community.
The 1000 mile journey started with a single step.
This is our first step to achieving our mission.