Environment

We aim to improve every year as we get better data on our impacts and as new products and services become available that help us in our mission.

Our three main areas of focus are:

• Greenhouse gas emissions – aiming for net zero emissions by 2030.
• Waste – reducing the amount of waste generated, and recycling as much as we can.
• Product and materials – choosing products made of more environmentally-conscious materials that can be re-used and/or recycled.

Greenhouse gas emissions:

• Travel (participants, volunteers, staff, suppliers, spectators) 
• Transport (moving barriers, toilets, infrastructure, baggage)
• Generators (to power PA system, timing system, catering, media)

Waste: 

• Food and drink (cans, bottles, gel wrappers, cups, banana skins)
• Clothing (from the start line)
• Event items (numbers, foil blankets, kitbags)

Product and materials: 

• Medals
• T-shirts
• Branding and signage

Noise and disturbance: 

• Noise
• Lighting at night
• Trampling
• Damage to trees and park areas from vehicle movements and infrastructure
• Littering

• We charge a carbon levy to international participants which is spent on carbon removal credits to mitigate the effects of overseas travel.
• We offer participants a tailored low-carbon travel plan to help them get to our events.
• Bike parking is available at most events to encourage active travel. 
• Events are easily accessible via public transport. 
• Most hired vehicles (such as vans and logistics vehicles) are electric. 
• All on-course vehicles and LME vehicles are electric. 
• Some larger baggage lorries run on HVO fuel (hydrotreated vegetable oil) which produces lower emissions and is far less polluting than diesel.
• Mains electricity is used wherever possible (as this is more efficient than using temporary generators). 
• All generators run on HVO fuel. Increasing use of batteries to reduce generator run-time.
• Due to the high carbon emissions from some beef production systems, we have taken beef off the menu for all our food offerings in 2024.

• We no longer give out food items at the Finish of our running events and participants are asked to bring their own.
• Bungees are used instead of plastic cable ties to attach branding to barriers. 
• Any clothing dropped at our events is collected by our partners, the Salvation Army Trading Company, and then sent to their facility to be sorted for resale in shops or reprocessing.
• Buxton Natural Mineral Water bottles are collected separately at our events and are sent to be recycled into new Buxton bottles. Lucozade bottles are also collected, separated and sent for recycling.
• All our events feature staffed recycling stations where participants (and the public) can hand in their waste to a team member who will make sure it goes in the right bin.

• All our medals are made from recycled zinc alloy. We order medals in bulk to reduce freight movements (they are shipped by sea). Any leftover medals are recycled within the UK and the ribbons are recycled too.
• We offer a finisher “tree” as the default finisher item at the majority of our running events. (Trees are planted in the UK on behalf of participants).  Participants can choose to have a recycled polyester T-shirt if they prefer.
• At our running events, Buxton Natural Mineral Water is provided in 100% recycled and recyclable plastic bottles. 
• Branding is saved, washed and stored for re-use. Generic event signage is undated and unbranded and is saved and stored to be used across multiple events.
• Polyester branding is reprocessed into rPET pellets.
• Recyclable kitbags are made from at least 75% sugarcane. 
• Any cups used are compostable. 
• Serveware at festivals and hospitality is all compostable. 
• No single-use plastic used by food and drink vendors or in hospitality.

In 2020 we launched our first-ever environmental impact report, Leaving the Right Impression, which set out the waste, emissions and products produced and used across all our events, and at our head office and warehouse.

This report is now published annually. You can access them below.

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

London Marathon Events Ltd (LMEL) is the world’s leading organiser of mass participation sporting events. Our vision is “to inspire activity” and our mission is to deliver excellence in mass participation sporting events, inspiring participation in sport across all demographics and abilities.

LMEL is the trading company of the London Marathon Charitable Trust and all surplus after costs are transferred to The London Marathon Charitable Trust (LMCT), which provides funding to:

• Initiatives that enable people to become and remain physically active regardless of age, gender, ability, race or background and challenge inequality of access to physical activity.
• Build, renovate or modernise facilities to support such initiatives.

One of LMEL’s objectives is to inspire and deliver innovation in mass participation event sustainability and this is also one of the eight company pillars that guide everything we do. This includes managing our impact on the environment through improvements in:

• The planning and delivery of LMEL events
• Procurement and supply chain activities
• Office and warehouse management

This environmental policy applies to all our operations and events.

We recognise that the activities of LMEL can have both a negative and a beneficial impact on the environment, associated with impacts such as resource utilisation, materials choice, waste generation and disposal, greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity and nature preservation, and releases to land, water and air. Through a rigorous assessment and measurement of what those impacts are, we are taking action to eliminate or minimise negative ones, and amplify positive ones.

In addition to those environmental impacts that LMEL can control directly, we shall also consider areas that we can influence. We will aim to inspire, encourage and work with our supply chain, contractors, participants, volunteers, spectators and sponsors to reduce environmental impacts.

LMEL is committed to the following strategies and will incorporate actions into our operations to continually improve their environmental performance.

The five strategies of our environmental policy are to:

1. Identify, understand, measure, monitor and continuously review our environmental impact, focusing on waste production and greenhouse gas emissions
2. Eliminate, reduce, reuse and recycle all waste; ensure zero waste from LMEL activities is sent to landfill
3. Develop and implement a responsible procurement framework
4. Reduce energy consumption and improve efficiency; seek to utilise energy from renewable sources where possible
5. Publish an annual environmental performance report

We will set annual targets as appropriate in relation to our strategies to achieve our objective of inspiring and delivering innovation in mass participation event sustainability.

This policy is reviewed annually.