Runners in their droves headed to the Rerun stand at The National Running Show in Birmingham in January, diverting a massive 4,700 items of running gear destined for landfill, going a long way towards making both the show and the industry more sustainable.
Visitors were encouraged to bring any unwanted items of clothing and kit to the show that they would otherwise have thrown away, adding to the estimated 300,000 tonnes of used clothing goes to landfill in the UK. That’s the equivalent of 544,311,000 Olympic gold medals being thrown away.
More than 2500 race t-shirts, 1500 items of running kit, 450 pairs of running shoes and 500 sports bras were donated at the show. These items will be given to the homeless, to refugees and distributed to charities and sold on the Rerun site.
Charlotte Jalley at Rerun said: “We want to encourage everyone to recycle their gear that they may simply have grown out of or grown tired of. So much of the sportswear that ends up in landfill could
have been used for many more months and sometimes even years. We want to see more people sharing/swapping and selling their unwanted gear, or donating it to charities so we as a community can do our bit to help our planet.”
Mike Seaman, CEO at National Running Show said: “We were really impressed by how many people brought their old running gear to the show. I came with a bag of old running shoes and it’s really good to know that those items, while they aren’t able to be used for long distance running anymore, can still be used for other purposes and make sure that every bit of life is wrung out of them. We feel really strongly about making sure that our shows are as sustainable as possible and initiatives like this, that actually give to others, are hugely satisfying to be a part of.”
Currently over five per cent of the UK’s total annual carbon and water footprints result from clothing consumption. Extending the average life of clothes by three months would result in a five to 10 per cent reduction of their carbon, water and waste footprints, extending the life by nine months would result in a 20 to 30 per cent reduction.
The National Running Show is on a mission to increase the sustainability of its shows with a comprehensive Sustainability policy, Travel Carbon Calculator to offset travel to the event and the implementation of a vegan café. The team at The National Running Show were proud to wear branded t-shirts made from recycled bottles, the Show Guide was printed on recycled paper and VIPs were gifted reusable jute bags.
The National Running Show London takes place on 13th-14th June 2020. Tickets are available at https://bit.ly/3buv19s