Gorona del Viento and the La Frontera Municipal Council have today presented their collaboration compact with the Meridiano Naviera Armas Marathon. In this way, the company that has successfully established El Hierro as a world leader in the exploitation of clean, renewable energy sources will drive forward a series of actions that will enable El Hierro’s largest-scale sporting event to minimise its environmental impact.
Through the Aequus Meridiano pledge, the organisation behind the Canary Island Marathon will embark on a series of concrete measures to mitigate the impact of over 2,000 people visiting the island to attend the event. The Head of the Municipal Council’s Sports Department has commended this collaboration agreement as one that will “strengthen the institution’s commitment to the environment, as we are conscious of the environmental impact of large-scale events, and of the need to support actions to prevent environmental damage in all areas”.
Campaigns to encourage the use of shared transport, and the avoidance of the use of plastic bags for the distribution of promotional materials are just a few of the actions included in the Aequus Meridiano pledge sponsored by Gorona del Viento.
Gorona del Viento’s Chief Executive Officer, Santiago González, stated that this agreement will help to minimise the environmental impact of such a mass event; he hoped it would serve as an example, so that these measures would be adopted as common practice for sporting events held in the Canary Islands.
For this particular event, all signage along the route will use 100% compostable tape made from potato starch. Furthermore, the organisation will use a device to remove all tape used within 24 hours, as the route passes through an area of great environmental value.
In addition, bins will be designated for specific types of waste. These bins are made from recycled cardboard and printed using water-based inks. The bins will be placed at points that experience the highest crowd volumes, as well as at the 9 refreshment stands along the race route.
Another important detail in the environmental pledge adopted by the organisers of this particular Meridiano Marathon is the elimination of the use of plastic. In fact, all materials used in the different activities taking place over the 3 days of the event will be made from biodegradable substances.
