Marathon litter bugs in disqualification call
Environment Agency wants radical rethink of how to reduce plastic pollution at road events
MARATHON runners who create litter should be disqualified, the Environment Agency (EA) has said, as it launches a drive against the widespread use of single-use plastics in sport.
New guidance for sporting events issued this week suggests ways in which cycling and running events, in particular, can reduce the huge number of plastic cups and bottles left behind by competitors and their supporters.
Mass-participation races have returned this year after 2020’s suspensions due to the Covid-19 pandemic and there are concerns about their impact on the environment.
Participants should be encouraged to bring reusable bottles and race organisers should consider ditching numbered plastic bibs in favour of inscribing numerals on competitors’ arms and legs, the guidance says.
Bags of souvenirs given to finishers should also be scrapped, it adds.
“Some events have successfully imposed a ban on littering, disqualifying participants that drop any litter on the course,” the EA said. “This ensures participants are responsible for their own waste, intertwines sustainability within the event and makes littering socially unacceptable.”
One event, the New Forest Marathon, uses cardboard cups instead of plastic cups and bottles and requires runners to drop them within designated zones. Anyone seen dropping cups outside these areas is disqualified for littering.
If runners need to dispose of food or drinks packaging outside these areas they must give it to a marshal.
Another popular event, the Conwy Half Marathon, has a similar policy.
Guidance for runners on its website says: “Runners will now be disqualified and taken off the results if seen discarding their rubbish outside of a water stop or not with a marshal.”
Event organiser Wild Running, whose events include a Dartmoor ultramarathon and a Lake District fell running camp, is encouraging participants to bring their own collapsible cups.
Ceri Rees, its director, said: “We should all be in this for the long run, and hold event organisers accountable for their race equipment.”
Barry Hopkins, director at Sporting Events UK, said: “We have been using reusable timing chips, with low plastic content, which can last for hundreds of thousands of active scans. Many of our signage items are produced in such a way that we can reuse them.”
Organisers of the London Marathon, which is due to be held on October 3, are encouraging participants to buy £11.99 bottle belts so they can carry their own water to reduce Covid-19 transmission and reduce waste.
Similar guidelines for sporting venues suggest banning plastic soft drinks bottles and instead providing water fountains and reusable cups on a deposit/return scheme.
The guidance has been produced for the Preventing Plastic Pollution (PPP) project, a French-english partnership that attempts to reduce plastic pollution in rivers and oceans.