London Marathon uses edible water sachets to reduce plastic waste

With over 40,000 participants, organizers of the 2019 London Marathon held on Sunday, April 28 turned to ingenious solutions to reduce plastic waste.

The annual event raises money for important causes but has been criticized for the plastic bottles left on the 42-kilometer route by runners and food packaging from spectators.

This year, the London Marathon took multiple measures to minimize the use of plastic, as per a statement in early April.

One stand-out solution was a station which offered edible seaweed sachets at Mile 23. Sports drinks company Lucozade Sport provided capsules called Oohos which biodegrade in four to six weeks.

Ooho packaging. Image: Instagram/@oohowater

Oohos were created with start-up Skipping Rocks Lab and are consumed by biting it. The packaging is edible but if it is not eaten, it can be tossed out as it degrades like a fruit peel.

We are at mile 23 Of London Marathon handing out Lucozade Sport orange in Oohos! GOOD LUCK to all runners! We can’t wait to cheer you all on!! Any of our followers who are running? #londonmarathon #VMLM #madetomove pic.twitter.com/sFdTTWRjIj

— Notpla (@notpla) April 28, 2019

Plastic bottles in the marathon were made from recycled plastic, while drink stations were reduced from 26 to 19, effectively reducing 215,000 plastic bottles from 2018.

Drop zones were also installed for faster clean-ups and to ensure that the bottles would be recycled.

Bottle belts from recycled plastic were made available to 700 runners so they could carry 250 mL bottles.

London Marathon Events has committed to zero waste to landfill by December 2020. JB

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