AFCON fans in Egypt, Wimbledon tennis stars join world’s drive for recycled water bottles

The move underlines that the culture of recycling is spreading in Egypt and that Egyptians are getting aware of their important role to save their planet.

This coincided with the Wimbledon tennis tournament which introduced its first 100% recycled and recyclable water bottle. And free water refill points are available to cut down on single-use bottles.

Moreover, the tournament’s star players, including Angelique Kerber and Dominic Thiem, will be wearing gear made from plastic waste.

Designed by Stella McCartney, the eco-friendly whites use materials discarded on beaches and upcycled into yarn, combined with fibers from recycled garments. Items in the collection are dyed using a process that reduces water consumption by 10 liters per garment.

The International Olympic Committee is working towards reducing single-use plastics from its events, and has pledged support for the UN Clean Seas campaign. That initiative has also been backed by bodies like World Sailing, World Rugby, the International Association of Athletics Federations and National Olympic Committees around the world. The Clean Seas movement aims to increase global awareness of marine litter and find ways to address this issue.

Plastic items that find their way into the ocean can take hundreds of years to bio-degrade.

Around 13 million tons of plastics leak into oceans every year, according to a 2018 UN report. Action by the governing bodies of world sporting events can make a sizeable impact on sport’s contribution to the problem.

London’s Kia Oval cricket ground has pledged to be completely plastic-free by 2020. The venue has banned plastic straws, introduced eco-friendly alternatives to plastic beer cups, and has phased out plastic bags in its shop.

In the US, Major League Soccer clubs celebrated Earth Day by playing in gear made from plastic waste, preempting the Wimbledon experiment.

The volume of plastic reused to create sports clothing is a drop in the ocean compared to the tons discarded daily. But moves by major sports stars to wear recycled and upcycled designs at major sporting arenas helps raise awareness of this global issue – and the need for urgent action.

Joining this march, Addidas has pledged to use only 100% recycled polyester by 2024  in a push to increase the sustainability of its supply chain.

On the World Ocean Day on June 8, 2019, Addidas launched “Run For The Oceans” with the increased goal this year of raising $1.5 million to continue to invest in the education of future generations on the issue of marine plastic pollution.

In 2018, Adidas created a global movement with Run For The Oceans, uniting nearly one million runners from around the world and raising $1 million for long-term partner Parley for the Oceans. To date, the money raised has helped directly educate and empower 100,000 youth and their families who are living in coastal areas affected by plastic pollution to take action as part of the Parley  Ocean School Program. The partnership saw five million pairs of shoes created using recycled ocean plastic in 2018 alone.

Adidas is upping the pace of change. The introduction of the 2019 Parley  range will see the company produce a landmark 11 million pairs of shoes using upcycled marine plastic waste.