Brighton Racecourse is joining the city’s battle to reduce plastic waste by becoming one the first racecourses in the country to introduce a re-usable plastic cup at its race meetings and events.
The new SOS (Save Our Seaside) reusable cup will make its debut at our season opener on Saturday April 20th and comes in response to growing concerns in Brighton and Hove about the amount of plastic waste generated at the city’s major events. The racecourse have also launched a social media campaign ahead of the event - the #SOSBrighton campaign.
The move comes in response to growing calls in the city to reduce single use plastics. A petition calling on Brighton and Hove Council to stop major events in the city using single-use plastics currently has nearly 4,000 signatures as Brighton gears up for another busy summer of events. Combating single use plastic at the city’s major events is seen as one way of reducing plastic waste and the build-up of plastic along Brighton’s coastline.
Brighton Racecourse is hoping other racecourses across the country and venues in the city will follow their lead and help raise awareness of plastic waste.
Paul Ellison, Executive Director at Brighton Racecourse said:
“We are proud to be one of the first racecourses in the country to introduce a re-useable cup at our events starting at our Mad Hatter Raceday. As a major event venue in Brighton, we are aware of how important the issue is to our city and we all have an important role to play in tackling it.
We have a number of event fixtures this season and we hope that this move will spark others to do the same and to get rid of the single use plastic at other major events in Brighton and Hove.”
Mita Patel, Sustainability Programme Officer at Brighton and Hove City Council added:
“It’s great to see a major event venue in Brighton actively making a change towards our common goal of reducing plastic waste across the city. Single-use plastic is an issue that needs to be urgently addressed and by launching their re-useable cup Brighton Racecourse are playing their part and leading the way for other major events in the city.”
We will launch the SOS (Save our Seaside) cup, made by Recup, at the first major event of the season, Mad Hatter Raceday, on Saturday April 20th. Event goers will be able to put a £1 deposit down and get it back when they return the cup, or they can take it home as a souvenir. Any cup returned will go back to be recycled for future cups.
