Sports and Plastic

How this important economic field has the chance to go green.

Gathering together to watch others demonstrate top-notch human abilities is a millennial tradition. We’ve been doing this since ever, and it’s an important aspect of social human behavior. Many people love to watch sports and go to stadiums and gymnasiums.

However, in modern days, wherever there is a big group of human beings together, comes a mass amount of trash produced. And as we know, unfortunately, the majority of this trash will be made of plastic and other non-compostable items.

There must be a better solution for people to get fed and hydrated without ditching a plastic cup or bottle, a plastic plate, and a plastic fork in the trash bin every time.

Single-use plastic usage in sports events can be massive. If we consider all professional leagues in all sports, waste production can exceed that of entertainment events such as concerts and festivals.

Remember that not only audience consumption generates the disposal of single-use plastics, but also athletes and technical teams will use them.

To minimize the environmental impact, many teams are handling waste and sending aluminum cans and plastic bottles for recycling. Attitudes like this should also be recognized and encouraged, but they are not the only solution that truly makes change. In order to rid of plastic pollution, we need to make the pollution in the first place. So why not avoid making it and using it, why not refill and reuse when we can?

Although recycling solves part of the problem, imagine the energy expenditure both to make the products and collect, transport, and process the material to be recycled.

Ideally, we should avoid the production of garbage so that it is not necessary to recycle it. And we have numerous intelligent solutions for this.

People need water, not plastic bottles or cups

Good news: people are drinking more water than sodas. This is great for people's health and, consequently, a great step for a better society. A healthier society is a happier society.

But unfortunately, the majority of this water comes in a plastic bottle. It’s past time that we all agree we don’t need even one more single plastic bottle added to this planet. We have enough bottles to use for hundreds or thousands of years, thanks :(

We have smarter ways to give people the hydration they need in sports and cultural events.

One main example is via water refill stations. All people need is a source of drinkable water where they can fill their own water bottles or cups.

Teams, sponsors, and federations must unite to promote sustainability in stadiums. Lets redirect a small percentage of millionaire advertisements to encourage people to bring their bottles to these events. Let's put these advertisements on the drinking fountains and make them publicity revenues shared and viewed collectively. Let's even try to inspire technology to capture marketing data using digital advertising such as the ones one our digital screens. Events can capture user viewers and generate potential revenue streams of their own based on their marketing Ads cost-per-view (CPV).

Sports leagues earn a lot of money promoting events and have a social responsibility to provide good sources for people to eat and drink and safe environments. We can all take advantage of the social and health benefits promoted by sports, socialize, and have fun, while also protecting people and the planet.