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Buildings and facilities

Six adults, some wearing football shirts, two women holding babies. Standing in a field with a digger and other plant equipment. One man is posing with a spade digging into the grass

Your buildings and grounds can be a great opportunity to reduce your group’s impact on the planet.

If you run a building, think about energy use, how you use water and chemicals, and how you dispose of waste.

Your grounds and open air spaces also have an impact – what could you do to reduce pressure on the environment or act to promote biodiversity and sustainably? Think global – act local.

Where to begin?

It can be a bit overwhelming looking at all the ideas to reduce your environmental impact.

Start by listing all the potential things you could do, then sort them according to the cost and benefit. It may be that you can make more changes than you realised. Some to reduce negative impacts, others to increase positive impacts.

cost benefit analysis. Four yellow squares in a grid with cost on x axis and benefit on y axis. high cost high benefit -consider if you can fund this , low cost high benefit - just go for it, low cost low benefit – marginal gains can add up, high cost low benefit – don’t do this!.
worker in hard hat and hi viz vest installing a heat pump

Energy use

Reducing energy use in your group’s buildings has a double benefit. As well as reducing environmental impact, you’ll save on bills too.

Do also consider using a green tariff for your building. These are now much more competitively priced and don’t need to be a large additional cost. The Centre for Sustainable Energy have an overview of what to expect.

If you are able to make larger modifications to your building, think about whether you could install a heat pump system or solar panels.

Completing an energy audit is a good first step to help you to understand where you can make changes. The Centre for Sustainable Energy has this guide.

The Football Foundation has this guide to reducing energy as well as a Sustainability Checklist to download.

dripping outdoor tap in deep shadow, trees in background

Water usage

Waterwise is the leading independent voice in the UK for using water wisely, for the benefit of people and the planet. Waterwise supports organisations to meet their environmental objectives, reduce risk and ensure business continuity by helping them to use water wisely.

Take a look at these water saving tips.

Ecoprod aim to help you use less water, waste less water and reuse more water. As the leading provider of water-saving products for sustainable organisations, their water saving products and solutions can help you cut your water bills, your energy bills and your carbon footprint.

They have this advice for sports clubs.

plastic cups and bottles littering with grass in background

Waste and pollution

Reduce single-use plastic

Many plastic items are used for only minutes to hours, yet could be around for hundreds of years. 

Normalise bringing reusable water bottles among your participants – you could have some spares to borrow for anyone who forgets theirs.

Use washable items rather than disposable. It’s just a little bit more effort, but spares the planet a whole lot of wasted resources.

Reduce, reuse, recycle

As well as packaging, could you install a composting bin or wormery to recycle food waste? What does your local authority provide for waste collection and services?

Make sure your waste sorting is easy and understood by everyone, especially where you have multiple users and multiple people responsible. Remember that recycling is the least best option for reducing your waste impact.

Go paperless where you can. There are lots of tools to help your group with admin and avoid the need to print out forms, receipts, invoices and programmes. Take a look at this resource for which digital admin solution could work for your group.

Kit and equipment

When it comes to kit recycling, look into circular economy options to ensure you’re making the best use of resources.

boy on bike doing mountain bike skills with adult watching in a woodland setting

Biodiversity

Encourage wildlife in

Even a small site can accommodate a wildlife area. Build a bug hotel, create a pond or just leave a corner to grow wild.

Create a wildlife haven in any outdoor space – cut the chemicals and encourage nature back in. Check out your local Wildlife Trust for national and local information, tips and advice.

Do you really need to use chemical weedkillers and pesticides? Take a look at how one group have reduced pesticides in their local area. Help to make your local area a haven for wildlife and help reverse the decline in insect life.

 

diggers in a field Princetown football pitch Sported member photo

Upgrades and mitigation

Reducing your footprint and increasing resilience

Making an environmental impact action plan is a great way to start thinking about how you can make a difference. TNLCF have this template to get you started. 

You could also conduct an energy audit.

If you are planning major upgrades, take a look at this resource for environmental project funding.

 

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