Organisers of the Cardiff Half Marathon have taken huge steps to reduce its carbon footprint, improve recycling rates, cut travel to the event and reduce waste.
The event, which sees more than 27,000 people from across Wales, the UK, Europe and beyond, take to the streets of the capital city every year, has reduced the CO2 emissions from its generators by 98%, increased recycling rates to 95% and cut waste by a third (34%) after making a pledge to become more sustainable.
Gareth Ludkin, Sustainability manager at Run 4 Wales said:
“At a time of rapidly escalating climate change, resource depletion and plastic pollution, every organisation has a responsibility to take action to minimise their environmental impact.
“As a mass participation event, reducing our carbon footprint has not been without its challenges. However, we have reviewed all our processes, from our goody bags and t-shirt production to how we communicate with the runners, our on-site generators and the materials we use for signs, branding and the medals.
“We have set out a very comprehensive Green Action Plan that addresses all our procedures and how we can improve on them. We are already making great progress to improve our sustainability credentials in many of the areas like waste, recycling and energy generation.
“One of the biggest challenges we face is the participants’ travel to the event, with this making up 97% of our carbon emissions. Last year at least half of the people travelling to the event used a car, rather than public transport for example. To help reduce car travel this year, we are working with Transport for Wales to put on extra transport or rail replacement buses on the day, as well as facilities for safe cycle storage. We hope these changes will encourage both participants and spectators to make more sustainable travel choices.
“Another major challenge for the event is dealing with plastic bottles along the route. We’ve been trialling paper cups and other alternatives, but due to the scale of the event it’s proving to be a hard nut to crack and we’re continuing to devise a strategy to try and eliminate them.”
Huw Irranca-Davies, Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change, said;
“At a time when we all need to be taking action to reduce our impact on the environment, it’s great to see the organisers behind our prestigious Principality Cardiff Half Marathon leading the way in sustainable event management.
“Although mass participation events like these are important for the Welsh economy and tourism, they can produce a significant carbon footprint. Therefore, anything that can be done to mitigate these carbon emissions will go a long way to creating a greener, cleaner Wales.”
Gareth and the team at Run 4 Wales have addressed procedures, suppliers and processes over the past three years and as a result have already reduced the carbon emissions of the generators by 98%. They have removed the goody bag, made the receipt of a t-shirt optional and to reduce printing, materials and postage, are now using only email to communicate about the event. They are also using recycled materials for all branding and signs and have switched from diesel to bio diesel generators at the event. It has also set up charitable partnerships to help offset its carbon emissions.
Gareth added:
“In addition to reviewing and streamlining many of our procedures, we have teamed up with Size of Wales on its Run4Trees project in which we aim to help balance our events with the planting of trees through our Climate Action Fund. This fund was set up with the aim of raising money for Welsh Climate Action projects. The money is raised by sponsors and participants, and includes the t-shirt opt-out donation. This is then donated to help cover projects that are improving the environment, such as Size of Wales, Stump Up For Trees, Project Seagrass and Splott’s Railway Gardens.
“It is our way of giving something back. Since we started the initiative in 2022 we’ve been able to donate £38,000 so far – £17,000 in its first year, growing to £21,000 in its second. We’re hoping this will continue to increase even further in the future as we continue to build and develop.”
