Lendy Cowes Week launches a new sustainability initiative

Lendy Cowes Week launches a new sustainability initiative © Paul Wyeth / CWL

Cowes Week Ltd, the organisers of Lendy Cowes Week, the world's largest regatta and a highlight of the British Summer Season, has announced its intention to work towards making the event more sustainable with the launch of a new sustainability initiative.

Lendy Cowes Week has an impact on the water and on the shoreside with 100,000 people visiting during the regatta. CWL firmly believes that an event of this size should play its part in spreading the message about sustainability and minimising its own impact on the environment.

Working with the event sponsors and four Official Venues: Cowes Parade, Cowes Yacht Haven, Northwood House and Shepards Wharf, CWL will be raising awareness of sustainability issues and highlighting how we can all help to make a difference, both on and off the water. Some of the initiatives planned for 2018 include installation of more water filling stations for the general public and competitors and improved waste recycling around the town.

CWL has already made changes at its base, Regatta House, by switching to a sustainably sourced electricity provider, putting a comprehensive recycling programme in place and committing to no single use plastics in Regatta House itself. The Official Venues are committed to help reduce the use of polystyrene, Styrofoam and plastic cutlery and are looking into the wider use of reusable drinks cups that were trialled at the main Cowes Yacht Haven Bar in 2017. Banning the use of plastic straws across the event is also a key objective.

The official charity, The 1851 Trust, will be inspiring young visitors to Lendy Cowes Week through a series of hands-on sustainability workshops, to excite them to become innovators of the future and stewards of the environment.

CWL is also working closely with The Green Blue, the RYA and British Marine's Joint environment initiative, and has signed up to the Sailors for the Sea 'Clean Regattas Programme', a voluntary, self-assessment tool that provides a system to benchmark what the environmental footprint is today and set goals for the future.

Kate Johnson, Commercial and Marketing Director for CWL said, 'Sustainability is a real area of focus for us, and we know that it is high on the priority list of our competitors too. We believe that as a large flagship regatta we need to do what we can to minimise our impact on the environment and our waters, and set an example to others. We're proud to be putting in place a sustainability initiative from 2018, and we will be building on this with further initiatives added over the coming years. It's something that can only be achieved by working together, and we look forward to collaborating with our Official Venues, Sponsors and competitors to further this agenda within our sport.'

Lendy Cowes Week 2018 takes place from the 4-11 August.