The BOA is way from the one organisation coping with extra equipment – elite sport normally struggles with equipment wastage.
5thread, a consultancy specialising in sustainability, estimates that as much as 100,000 objects of sports activities equipment find yourself in UK landfill yearly.
“It’s a large situation and it is also a posh situation,” says Joanna Czutkowna, director of 5thread and a doctoral researcher in sports activities attire and the round financial system.
“Loads of this equipment is purchased earlier than they know which athletes are going to finish within the sport or the occasion. So there’s quite a lot of extra inventory generated on the level of order.
“Additionally, the sorts of contracts that you just get for this have one thing referred to as worth in variety, so it isn’t a transactional contract. There’s nearly an incentive to get free product.”
Czutkowna is describing practices throughout elite sport, reasonably than Staff GB’s preparations.
Efficiency necessities additionally complicate efforts to scale back waste. Athletes want clothes designed to assist them compete, so lowering portions or altering supplies isn’t at all times simple.
The full surplus is tough to measure. Package can stay in warehouses or athletes’ garages with out getting into a waste stream the place it may be counted.
The difficulty extends throughout sport, from golf equipment to international locations.
European soccer governing physique Uefa estimates that as much as 60% {of professional} group attire, exterior is disposed of on the finish of the season, though this determine has not been independently verified.
