Our most sustainable year yet!
The 2022 Bath Half was our most sustainable year to date with zero waste to landfill and a plastic bottle-free event.
Replacing plastic bottles with tap water and compostable cups – courtesy of our partner Wessex Water – was rated 67% ‘Excellent’ to ‘Good’ in our post-race survey, with 45% of respondents telling us they brought their own refill bottle to the event, and 90% of runners regularly using a refill bottle during their training.
Working together towards a more sustainable future
In 2020 we worked with A Greener Festival to further investigate the impacts of this event, quantifying our findings and developing a strategy for the future. Alongside this, we have been working with other major UK road races to share ideas, and knowledge and develop a sustainability framework within the road race industry. We are excited to see how this develops, working together towards a more sustainable future.
Since then, we put in place a number of schemes and partnerships to help reduce our environmental impact. You can read about these below…
New for the 2023 race
- How good is your goody bag?
The answer in 2022 was ‘extremely good’ year.
We have switched to recycled polyester T-shirts and medals are no longer wrapped in plastic bags.
New for 2023: in our efforts to reduce over-consumption, particularly of single-use “throw away” items, there are no goody bags at the 2023 Bath Half Marathon, a medal and finisher t-shirt are still provided to finishers.
- “Plastic Free Pledge”
Running High Events Ltd, organisers of the Bath Half Marathon, have made a “Plastic Free Pledge” in alliance with SAS (Surfers Against Sewage) and Bath & North East Somerset Council. This is a collective community action by local businesses, organisations, schools, clubs and groups to eliminate single-use plastic and increase the use of sustainable alternatives.
- Refill, Not Landfill!
This year we are again encouraging Bath Half participants to bring their own water bottles to the event. Refill points, provided by Wessex Water, will be available at their “Hydrozones” in the Runners Village, the on-course and in the post-finish area.
Single use plastic bottles have historically been used to keep runners hydrated during road races, creating vast volumes of waste plastic and water each year. By changing our habits we can create a closed-loop system of reuse.
Runners are used to being self-sufficient for drinks during training runs, and we encourage our runners to help us achieve our sustainability targets by doing the same during the event. Bath & North East Council does not allow single use plastic bottles to be used at public events.
- Cupped Water
All of the drinks stations this year will again be providing main drinking water in compostable paper cups, replacing the traditional plastic bottled water. Runners are advised to bring their own refillable bottle if they do not wish to drink from a cup on the course.
Paper cups will be collected by our volunteers and taken for composting by a local processor.
- Energy that’s good for you and the planet
HIGH5 will again be providing energy gels to runners this year on the course. The wrappers will be collected and recycled by specialist processor Terracycle. Please help our volunteers at the energy station by using the “HIGH5 Bins” provided
- Got a spare seat ?
How are you traveling to this year’s event ? If you are coming by car then why not save money and reduce congestion by teaming up with other participants and spectators. Visit the Liftshare website to register your lift today, it’s free and easy to use.