by Eloise Cheary
“Setting an example and aiming to be better should be a core aim of the club”
It is a well known fact that many plastic items wilfully making their way to a recycling plant, don’t ever actually end up being recycled. Those that do, may be going through a recycling process which uses significant energy and resources to recycle the plastic. This is why there has been a substantial push at numerous mass ‘fan’ events to move away from ‘throwaway’ plastic glasses, to reusable plastic cups.
One doesn’t have to be a tree hugger or a massive eco warrior to feel guilty about the black bags and rubbish bins full of plastic waste at the end of a football match, music festival, fete or bonfire celebration. When UK football fans were asked about their thoughts on switching to reusable or returnable cups at Premier League match, a whopping 84% were in support.
As a community owned football club, Lewes FC should be at the forefront of adopting a reusable or returnable cup scheme for match days. There is no point being a community club, committed to community objectives and community impact, having a community vegetable patch and a £40,000 electric vehicle, if at a basic level the club contributes thousands of plastic cups to landfill every month. Setting an example and aiming to be better than that should be a core aim of the club when it comes to environmental sustainability in the community.
For some time now, the club and Only With Love (OWL) have been lobbied to move away from throwaway plastic cups, and move to reusable or returnable cups. Having cheap to buy, or low deposit scheme cups with Lewes FC branding would be a wonderful way to set the example and say loud and proud in the community, that Lewes FC doesn’t do rubbish. Only With Love are benefitting as the chosen catering partner at The Pan, they should be spearheading this type of campaign with the club – they should be moving away from pouring canned drinks into a plastic cup creating double the waste with just one purchase! Lewes FC has access to some good marketeers; the club could really win with this type of initiative.
Excuses were plentiful from the club and OWL as to why they couldn’t embrace a reusable or returnable cup scheme. But thankfully, just as the club were awakening to the Bonfire celebrations in the town, Lewes Town Council in collaboration with Green United, a student-led group from Lewes schools, announced a scheme they are pushing with local pubs and bonfire societies. Buy a reusable cup for £1 and use it across town at participating pubs! This scheme is launching over Bonfire weekend and will save some of the 7 tonnes of waste which usually piles up after Bonfire night.
With a little nudge, the club reached out to the organisers of this scheme and agreed to support it at The Pan at the women’s match on 3 November. Woohoo! A small mention in club emails preceding the match will hopefully mean that some fans will use this reusable cup scheme. Let’s hope more marketing and fanfare will follow and that this type of scheme will be fully embraced by the club.
Less ‘throwaway’ cups after a home match will mean less litter to collect after the game, less eventual landfill, an extra cup in the cupboard at home, and a small feeling of satisfaction for contributing to a community that cares about the environment we live in.
The club’s response has to date been at best benign and we urge them in partnerships with OWL to not gently creep into changing a dirty habit but to be bold. It verges on hypocritical to have a £40,000 staff eco car parked in the car park next to bins overflowing with unnecessary plastic waste on windy days blowing into the Convent Field.
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PS: Since writing this article, we were delighted to see the club buy into reusable glasses with bonfire societies in time for 5th November. Alas, we are disappointed to see that the half-hearted promotion of this has completely stopped – even in the weekly email promoting sustainability and Vegan Day! We hope everyone enjoyed their ethical plant burger whilst drinking from the unsustainable and unethical plastic cup.
The Rights of Fans. 