JUNE | THE COMMENTATOR
Losing the bottle
Martin Fullard talks plastic
couple of weeks ago I was
A humiliatingly required to run for a bus over a distance of about 50 metres. By the time I had gone to tap in I was cascading sweat and short of breath. Despite in my teenage years having represented Surrey in the under-16 cross-country, I am no great fan of running, and running for the 281 confirmed both this and my unfitness. It also confirmed I was thirsty. When you’ re dying of thirst you simply do not care how the quenching water is presented to you: in a teacup, in a flowerpot or, even, in a plastic bottle. April saw the 38th installation of the London Marathon and, as luck would have it for the two people dressed as a rhinoceros, it was one of the hottest days of year, scraping past 24C. That meant all 40,000, and the rhinoceros, were going to be very thirsty, very often. How many bottles of water did each of the 40,000 runners consume over the 26-mile dash? Guess. Nope, it’ s around 800,000: bottles are available every mile between miles 3 and 25. After the race had finished, and once Mo Farah had found his special bottle, a video surfaced online of what can only be described as a sea of plastic. Tens of thousands of discarded
“ Credible alternatives just aren’ t available just yet.”
water bottles strewn across the road: it was quite a sight. Anyone with even the fainted desire to save the planet would need to be brought round with smelling salts. It would, though, be churlish to brand the organisers as Enemies of the Planet because, as we know, not all plastic alternatives have become mainstream yet. So before we berate the human condition for needing water during a marathon, it’ s worth pointing out that this year organisers were trialling a new‘ compostable cup’ – 90,000 of them to be exact, and that they would be available at three drinking stations. A London Marathon spokesperson told BBC Radio 5 that right now there’ s“ no other way”, apart from plastic bottles, to keep thousands of people hydrated in a short space of time: He added:“ Plastic bottles that are recyclable and sent for recycling are currently the best solution for the distribution of water and sports drinks to the more than 40,000 runners, given the very short window of road closures in one of the world’ s busiest capital cities.” He’ s right: credible alternatives just aren’ t available just yet, but at least they’ re trying. However, speaking to the BBC, Russell Seymour, chair of the British Association of Sustainable Sport said:“ The best option for single-use plastic is to avoid using it in the first place, and this should be in place for‘ mass spectator’ events.” Seymour and I have quite a lot in common, as it turns out: I don’ t have a practical solution either. The issue, I’ d wager, will likely be solved by the events industry. Are you doing your bit?
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