Royal Ascot races to a Green Apple award for recycling
Ascot Racecourse has won a prestigious Green Apple Award for Environmental Best Practice.
The award in the Sports, Leisure & Hospitality waste management category was presented on Monday 20 November in a special ceremony at the Houses of Parliament in London.
It celebrates a remarkable success story for this year’s Royal Ascot event, with recycling rates increased to 55% from 35% in 2022, net zero achieved at its Village Enclosure, and a host of other sustainability measures introduced.
Since the beginning of 2022, the racecourse has worked with Grundon Waste Management, whose team have played a key role in promoting best practice; including training and signage to encourage correct segregation of waste, introducing a dedicated sorting table and supporting Ascot’s own sustainability champions.
Keith Field, Head of Soft Services (1711 by Ascot), who oversees waste management at Ascot Racecourse with support from Peter Watts, (Rockvolt, a specialist consultancy for stadia, venues and events), says education and good communication has been one of the biggest drivers of success.
“We are absolutely delighted to have won a Green Apple award and it goes to show what a partnership approach can really deliver,” said Keith. “Grundon had great aspirations and it’s been a great year developing the delivery so as to see what could be achieved.
Not only did Grundon implement practical changes, they ensured everyone was involved and understood what needed to be done. Importantly, we now have accurate, measurable waste data to help us plan for the future too and we are very proud to see that everyone’s hard work has been recognised by The Green Organisation.”
Keith Field | Head of Soft Services
Grundon’s Shaun Workman, who attended the awards with Keith and Peter, said: “Royal Ascot is the jewel in the racing calendar crown and we worked hard to identify where improvements could be made.
Ensuring everyone – cleaning operatives, vendors, kitchen teams and hospitality staff – understood the true value of segregating waste was critical and their response was outstanding. It was a great result and we are absolutely thrilled with today’s success.”
Royal Ascot attracts some 300,000 people over a five-day period each June, with hospitality managed by 1711 by Ascot, a joint venture between Ascot Racecourse and Sodexo Live, including on-site catering and fine dining.
This year’s waste highlights saw over 25,460kgs of food waste sent for reprocessing (up by 809% from 2022), glass recycling up by over 35% and over 126,000kgs of CO2 saved.
Grundon also added to the sustainability story by using its new electric waste collection vehicles during the event, each of which is powered at its own Energy from Waste facility in nearby Colnbrook.
The Green Apple Environment Awards were launched in 1994 by The Green Organisation to recognise, reward and promote environmental best practice around the world, and have become well established as one of the most popular global environmental campaigns.
Related Links
Grundon Press Release
Award Entry Details
The Green Organisation
