LONDON: The city’s iconic cricket stadium, The Kia Oval has declared that its partnership with ‘Sky Ocean Rescue’, Sky Sport’s environmental initiative has resulted in the ground preventing the dumping of more than six tonnes or 690,000 pieces of single-use plastic in its very first year.
The 3-year partnership was agreed upon last year with the aim being to make The Oval entirely plastic-free by 2020. It is said that four rubbish trucks’ worth of plastic was dumped into the ocean during just one over before the ground came on board for the initiative.
For the on-going India vs England Test match, a reusable beer cup scheme has been deployed which has resulted in approximately 20,000 plastic pint glasses been saved from the rubbish heap.
Alongside this, 14 free water points have been installed throughout the ground – resulting in a 50% drop in plastic bottle water sales this season. If each of the 25,000 Sky Ocean Rescue reusable water bottles that were handed out to cricket fans this weekend is refilled three times, that’s a whopping 37,500 litres of water being dispensed – helping to avoid another tonne of single-use plastic.
Fiona Ball, Sky Ocean Rescue’s Head of Responsible Business commented: “Single-use plastic is a huge issue. Trillions of pieces of plastic are floating around our oceans, with another eight million tonnes introduced to this ecosystem every year. It never decomposes and will remain there forever. Working with the Kia Oval team has not only helped us bring this issue to life for an army of sports fans but also helped them make simple life changes that collectively make a big difference.”
Richard Gould, CEO of Surrey County Cricket Club added: “Increasing the sustainability of our operation is a major priority at the Kia Oval as we work towards our goal of becoming single-use plastic free by 2020. It is a difficult journey, involving work in every area of our business and initiatives like this with Sky Ocean Rescue really help move us in the right direction.”
