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Sustainability
Embedding greener initiatives into the core of any business should be a fundamental objective – and at The Great Run Company, we are no exception. That’s why sustainability is central to everything we do, and we’re continually working towards greener, more environmentally responsible choices, solutions, and practices.
We want our commitment to sustainability to be visible – not only to our staff, but also to our stakeholders, partners, crew, charities, volunteers, and of course, our participants.
A great deal of work takes place behind the scenes to ensure we maximise the positive impact of mass participation events, while minimising their environmental footprint. Our aim is for every event to be a force for good – for both people and the planet.
Below are some of the meaningful improvements and initiatives we’ve introduced as part of our ongoing commitment to reducing our environmental impact (Click below to jump to each section). You can also read the latest Environmental Report below.
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TRAVEL
What we are doing
- We are calculating staff, volunteer, supplier, and participant travel for all of our events
- We are working with You. Smart. Thing. to provide a low-carbon travel planner for this year’s Great North Run participants.
- We are reviewing our staff travel policies to prioritise low carbon travel to attend our events
- We are working with local transport providers to encourage participants to arrive at our events by public transport. For Great Birmingham Run, working with Transport for West Midlands we were able to provide free bus travel for our participants.
- We prioritise electric vehicles to use as event vehicles at our events
- Make travel questions mandatory during volunteer registration for more accurate data reporting
- Explore partnerships with public transport providers across our events.
What we plan to do
- Review participant travel data collection methods to ensure the data is as accurate as possible
- Encourage the team to use public or active transport where possible.
WASTE MANAGEMENT
What we are doing
- We manage waste according to the Waste Hierarchy – reducing waste, prioritising reuse, and increasing recycling.
- Partnering with charities to collect clothing and shoe donations across our events
- Provide clear signage and recycling bins at all events
- Collect water bottles to be recycled through our ‘DRINK, THROW & GO GO GO!’ initiative
- Trialling water refill stations on the course
- Using water-refills and compostable cups at Great North 10k
- At Ultra events, asking runners to bring own cups, running bottles
- Provide free drinking water at the start and finish of all events for staff, participants, and volunteers
- Support circular recycling initiatives.
What we plan to do
- Increase our average recycling rate above 29.7%
- Improve on-site waste separation to reduce contamination of waste streams
- Reduce packaging waste by eliminating unnecessary packaging prior to arrival on site
- Partner with organisations to manage hard-to-recycle items like merchandise, and branding
- Engage with waste contractors to provide prompt waste collection reports and understand exactly how the waste is processed (incineration, recycling, compost, etc.).
Clothing
What we are doing
- Moving all participant t-shirts to be made of recycled polyester
- Providing t-shirt opt-out options during event registration
- Partnering with local charities to ensure all surplus clothing is redistributed
- Recycling any unused tshirts.
What we plan to do
- Review participant t-shirt initiatives for future years.
GIVEAWAYS
What we are doing
- Providing recycled zinc medals with rPET ribbons
- Shifting to finisher bags which can be recycled
- Maximising the re-use of finisher bags for future events
- Re-using surplus giveaway items at future events
- Introducing free digital photo giveaway rather than giveaway items
- We work with partners to provide plastic free giveaways.
What we plan to do
- Look into more digital giveaways or more sustainable options.
Food & Drink
What we are doing
- All volunteer packed lunches are vegetarian or vegan
- Calculating the impact of our staff, volunteer, and participant food and drink provisions
- Providing compost bins to dispose of surplus food and compostable serveware
What we plan to do
- Encourage staff and volunteers to use re-usable cups and bottles throughout the event
- Work further with Togather to roll out carbon labels on food and drink at relevant 2026 events.
Energy & Fuel
What we are doing
- Shifting to HVO fuel for generators across our events
- Moved to a renewable energy tariff at our headquarters
- Expanding battery storage electricity usage at our events
- Monitoring generator and battery storage use for energy efficiency and monitoring
- Recording our head office and warehouse electricity usage more accurately.
What we plan to do
- Improving our green power provision across events
- Improve usage of electric vans across events.
Data Capture
What we are doing
- Asking all suppliers who attend our events to complete the data collection templates to record their travel, accommodation, waste, and energy used (where applicable)
- Research the emission factors of specific products for more accurate data reporting and to find lower carbon alternatives
- Calculate our scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions across all events and at the organisational level.
What we plan to do
- Encourage a higher completion rate of the data collection templates by suppliers
- Address the data gaps identified in our 2024 environmental report
- Produce poste event carbon reports in a timely manner after each event.
Single Use Plastics
What we are doing
- Cups and refill at some events
- Water refill stations at start and finish
- ‘DRINK, THROW & GO GO GO!’ recycling at our water stations on course.
What we plan to do
- Reduce single use plastic giveaways.
