To achieve effective change within communities, cities, or specific organisations, it is crucial to base strategies for implementing new methods on reliable data. Often, we underestimate the realities of communities we want to affect with our changes. The research done under the Sport #WithoutWaste Erasmus+ project is therefore a foundation of data that can inform sport organisers and event managers, with the goal to reduce waste at local sports events.

The report is based on a quantitative research process which was conducted in a collaborative effort of all partners in this project. It includes a comprehensive study of the partner countries: Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, and Türkiye.

You can access the report here

Essentially, this research report provides answers to the following research questions:

• How is a #WithoutWaste grassroots sport event defined?
• What is the context of each partner organisation of grassroots sports events in relation to the #WithoutWaste concept?
• What are the needs of each partner organisation of grassroots sports events in relation to the #WithoutWaste concept?

The Sport #WithoutWaste report is based on a quantitative research process led by the project expert Nabolagshager which was conducted in a collaborative effort of all partners in this project between July and December 2022. The quantitative study targeted two important project stakeholders: those who participate in Sport #WithoutWaste events, and those who organise them, as this target group holds essential information that can support the implementation of the project. 370 valid responses were collected from 6 partner countries (Albania, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkiye, Hungary, and Serbia) on key trends and challenges. 

To summarise the data presented, we can extend the definitions of grassroots sports events that implement the #WithoutWaste concept. In general, sports organisations implementing the #WithoutWaste concept, should pay attention to the following key characteristics:

• Providing opportunities for people to participate, infrastructure during sports events (such as clearly visible recycling bins), displays of information related to recycling during events
• Training staff and volunteers to react and prevent littering and organisations to implement placemaking methods to increase ownership
• Communicating the responsibility to recycle for participants, and the efforts made by organisations
• Collaborating with media to reach out to communities and communicate efforts and with other organisations to efficiently share resources
• Creating funding opportunities and more experiences of waste-free strategies (such as reusable plates, cutlery, cups, etc.)
• The report also provides key insights into each partner country specifics.

In Albania, the challenges around reducing waste at local sports events are centered mostly around people’s ability to make decisions regarding their recycling, as well as sport organisers ability to share resources through networks. 

It seems that there is a disconnect between people (especially sports participants) in Bulgaria. While most think they have quite a lot of capabilities and awareness of recycling, they do not think that about each other. Increasing community relations seems to be a good focus point for future implementations to reduce waste at local sports events.

Because most answers were quite divided or just not very strong, there is more research needed into waste-free local sports events in Hungary. Nonetheless, it is valuable to find that Hungarian sports participants perceive infrastructure to be quite good. Therefore, it seems that motivation and inspiration is the biggest hurdle for sports participants in Hungary.

Given that many participants notice efforts to reduce waste during local sports events in Romania, it seems that their national efforts to spread awareness are impactful. More research will be needed in the future to evaluate the challenges that organisations are still facing, given that infrastructure is also generally available for recycling. The most important factor is that there seems to be a disconnect of visibility between what organisers think and what participants notice.

Given that a few perceptions differed between sports participants and organisers, strategies should focus on increasing the connection to communities and creating stronger relationships of understanding and participation. Additionally, many strategies that already exist in Serbia could be transferred to other countries as good examples.

There is an interesting relationship with the individual agency relating to organising waste-free local sports events in Türkiye, because most respondents perceived people to change habits quickly. At the same time, there is a disconnect between the knowledge portrayed towards sports participants.

It is apparent that the project will fill significant gaps in understanding what makes a sports event “green” and what the perceptions are among the target groups. The activities will continue with partners piloting the Sport #WithoutWaste events in 6 countries throughout next year taking into an account the research results. 

Sport #WithoutWaste is a movement initiated by BG Be Active and supported by the efforts of the partner organisations from 7 other European countries: International Sport and Culture Association (Denmark), Nabolagshager (Norway), AJSPT Suceava (Romania), Hungarian School Sport Federation (Hungary), Albanian School Sport Federation / FSHSSH (Albania), Association Sport for All Serbia / ASFAS (Serbia), and Envercevko (Turkey).

Sport #WithoutWaste is funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or EACEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

Read the original article at the official website of the project