World Athletics participates in 2024 European Waste Reduction Week

World Athletics this week joined efforts with the Monegasque Ministry of Environment in its initiative to reduce, reuse and recycle as a way of marking Monaco’s Waste Reduction Awareness week.

In addition, as the festive and cold season slowly creeps in, World Athletics partnered with Monaco’s Semeurs d’Espoir (Sowers of Hope) for a special collection of clothing, shoes and food, all of which will be donated to the homeless and the poor in neighbouring communities.

Staff at World Athletics headquarters donated 6kg of food donations, 17kg of sports shoes and 118kg of clothes.

Jean-Pierre Debernardi, a representative of the Monegasque Semeurs d’Espoir Association, collected the donations. He, along with about 90 colleagues, dedicates his free time to deliver clothing and food to the homeless, poor and Ukrainian refugees living in Monaco’s neighbouring communities.

Swiss sprinter Ajla del Ponte and Italian high jumper Elena Vallortigara, two of World Athletics’ champions for a better world, expressed their support from afar.

“I really like to hear about this new initiative,” said Del Ponte. “I’m trying to do as much as I can back at home in Switzerland, as sponsored athletes we get clothing packages very often and it happens that some things will never be used. I make sure to donate to associations or I ask to my club if there are some kids in need. I’d like kids or young adults to not have to think about this by giving a bit of mine. A small gesture can change a lot.

“In Switzerland we also have an initiative called ‘The magic table’ which helps people in need to avoid alimentary poverty,” she added. “I always try to donate either coffee, rice, pasta or anything they need at the moment. Again, a small gesture for us, but a big impact for someone else.”

“I always try to stick to the rules of reduce-reuse-recycle,” said Vallortigara. “I pay special attention to the quality of the products I buy, whether it’s food, clothing, items in general. I try to be as essential as possible: when I really need something, according to my financial means, I choose the option with the best quality price ratio. But quality, as synonymous of sustainability, is always a priority.

“We should all have the interest and curiosity to know more about what we buy: being better informed can leading to more respectful choices,” she added. “There are so many ways to reuse food and clothes; the internet is full of delicious recipes and clothes can find a new life with other purposes and people.”

Reducing, and in many cases entirely eliminating, food waste have become important components of event sustainability initiatives in recent years.

Organisers of the World Indoor Championships Glasgow 24 partnered with a food bank in the city’s east end to redistribute all excess food from the event – more than 1000 meals – to forge a positive partnership that has set the path for future events at the Glasgow Arena. The food donation was the first such initiative by an event hosted at the arena since its opening a decade earlier.

At the Oslo Bislett Games, any leftover food is immediately delivered to a local mosque which distributes the meals in the immediate community. And at the Berlin Half Marathon, all unused prepackaged meals are distributed among the breakdown teams and all unused fruit is donated to the Berliner Tafel Community Food Bank.