Participants can opt out of receiving an official finisher’s T-shirt and plant a tree instead
London Marathon Events (LME) announced today (Tuesday 28 March) that it will be working with Trees Not Tees throughout 2023 to offer participants in its running events, including the TCS London Marathon, the option to opt out of receiving an official finisher’s T-shirt and have a tree planted instead.
The scheme is part of LME’s ongoing commitment to reduce its environmental impact and will see Trees Not Tees plant a sapling in its sustainable reforestation project in the UK for everyone who takes up this option. In return, participants will receive a personalised digital certificate, including a photo of their tree – and a what3words geolocation so they can visit their tree if they’d like to.
LME’s work with Trees Not Tees is one of several sustainability initiatives for 2023 aimed at reducing the environmental impact of its events, with a particular focus on lowering carbon emissions, cutting waste and improving circularity. Full details of the sustainability initiatives around the 2023 TCS London Marathon will be announced in April.
Hugh Brasher, Event Director at LME, said: “We are fully committed to reducing our environmental impact and we’re working to introduce more initiatives every year to achieve this. We know that finisher’s T-shirts are an important part of many people’s event experience, but we also know that many of our participants share our passion for environmental sustainability.
“Working with Trees Not Tees to offer the option to have a tree planted instead of receiving a T-shirt is the next positive step forward for LME as we continue our commitments to event sustainability.”
The Trees Not Tees option will be offered at the following running events organised by LME that feature finisher T-shirts in 2023:
- TCS London Marathon
- The Big Half
- Vitality London 10,000
One of LME’s long-term objectives is to help drive positive change in environmental sustainability through its own actions and inspire its stakeholders and partners to do the same. More information on environmental sustainability at LME’s events can be found here.
