A Just Ask Tante Pia column
By Pia Johansson
It´s been a while and I’m sure we are sure all dreaming of the return to races. The bibs, the preparation, the pre-race nerves: oh, how wonderful! But what one might also remember is the less than wonderful littering along the course. Plastic bottles, paper cups, race food wrappers, and random things left by spectators. It is not a pretty sight. How can one make running races more environmentally friendly?
There are definitely things we can do, both as race organizers and as participants. Since I think Über Moms should organize some races in the future, I will talk about both.
Waste
The first and obvious thing is all the liquid-related waste.
As a participant, there are some easy things to do. First, if you bring a water bottle to the race, take it home with you. There are so many plastic bottles everywhere after a race, and often the race organizers don’t supply these, so they are brought and left there by the participants. Consider bringing your own liquid or bottle, both for before and during the race. Some races offer fill-up stations, so investigate before you run. In trail events, this is quite common, so this might soon apply to road races as well. There as some quite cool lightweight, collapsible, and reusable cups and bottles on the market.
Along the same line, don’t litter anything else, either. Take your fuel wrappers home with you. If you had space to keep the fuel with you, you have space to take the trash home with you.
I think (hope) most race-organizers have stopped using plastic cups at the fuel stations but even paper cups are, of course, just left roadside. These cups have to be collected and transported away. An interesting new option is the Ooha, used, for example, at the London Marathon 2019, which creates zero waste. They are bite-sized water pods made of seaweed. It can also be ingested or discarded and is then completely biodegraded in six weeks. There are also cups made out of biodegradable plastics such as PLA, which is a good sustainability option but still creates waste.
Sustainability
Obviously, this is more on the organizers, but as participants, we can choose in favor of sustainability and demand better solutions.
We can, of course, do some things: don’t get the t-shirt if you don’t want it, carpool or use public transport to get there, and recycle your bib if possible. The recycling of bibs is just in its infancy but hopefully, this will happen soon, or some sort of reusable half-electronic version, perhaps?
In addition, race t-shirts (if they are really needed) should be made from recycled or ecologically sustainable materials. Liquid should be served from fill-up stations or in biodegradable/edible packaging.
Some organizers have chosen to make the whole even carbon neutral by calculating and minimizing the carbon footprint and then offsetting the rest.
Hopefully, we can all get out there soon again. In a responsible and sustainable manner.
Pia Johansson
Pia Johansson is a research scientist in neurobiology, mother of two and working mum. She was an expat for almost twenty years, in Australia and Munich and a short wild stint in Dublin many many years ago. She is in the throes of being repatriated to Sweden with her Australian husband. She likes talking, running and talking about running. And chocolate (although mostly 85% these days, as crazy as that sounds). In addition to staying fit and eating healthy, and raising happy healthy children, she dreams of doing something a little bit creative like writing or becoming a photographer. Or at least organizing her photos soon.