Globelet helping to minimise waste at iconic Wellington event

30,000 cups are normally used at the drink stations for the annual Wellington Round the Bays fun run event. Although cups used in the past were compostable or recyclable, event organiser’s Sport Wellington decided to make a change this year in a continued effort to minimise waste.

For the 2019 event, which saw thousands of people take to the streets, Sport Wellington trialled a new approach, partnering with Globelet to provide reusable, washable cups.

“Partnering with Globelet for the 2019 event allowed us to become the first large-scale running event in Australasia to utilise reusable cups at all water stations,” said John Grieve, Event Director, Sport Wellington.

Sport Wellington has now brought Globelet onboard as the sponsor for the Half Marathon category for the 2020 and 2021 Round the Bays events as well. Globelet will continue to provide cups for the whole event, keeping 60,000 throw-away cups off Wellington’s streets.

“Globelet was immensely proud to have achieved the goal of eliminating 30,000 single-use cups from the Wellington waste stream,” said Guy Hobson, NZ Business Development Manager, Globelet. “The partnership formed with the progressive team at Sport Wellington allowed for a smooth transition to a reusable cup that was washed post-event. The feedback we received was overwhelmingly positive and we were really happy to see the participants supporting the system on the day.”

Reusable Marathon Cups

Globelet works with over 300 events per year across Australasia, washing more than 2 million products annually. Their reusable revolution has so far eliminated 21.6 million items from the world’s waste stream.

Although event organisers are not required by the council to ensure or encourage waste minimisation at events, partnering with Globelet reflects Sport Wellington’s commitment to keeping New Zealand clean and green.

“As organisers of Round the Bays, we are always striving to minimise waste and help keep our Bays beautiful,” Grieve said.

The new initiative was well received by the majority of the Round the Bays participants, with feedback along the lines of; “Keep up the reusable cups at drink stations!”, “Very pleased about the cup recycling.” “I loved the reusable cups along the course and specifically researched before the race so I knew I didn’t need to bring my own reusable bottle.”

Wellington Round the Bays will be back in 2020, with registrations opening later this year.

“We look forward to a healthy, long-term relationship with RTB and Sport Wellington,” Hobson said.

Globelet is a circular economy business, building systems for a more sustainable future. Globelet continues to develop technology and systems to create trackable products that can be linked back to their wash factories to be washed and reused, forever.