Did you miss the Parisian asphalt during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games All-Run Marathon? You have the chance to catch up on October 13, with one of the many races taking place in the capital, the 46thmy Paris 20km edition. But bring your water bottle. During the press conference to present the event on Monday 23 September, the Paris City Council’s sports deputy, Pierre Rabadan, confirmed that a ban on single-use plastic bottles had come into force.
“In Paris you will no longer be able to organise a race if you use plastic bottles”It’s as simple as that, the 44-year-old former rugby player said in comments reported by The team. This was one of the objectives inherited from the Olympic Games. We must reduce the use of single-use plastic in our daily lives, and sport must do so. It is an evolution, and even a revolution for the organisers. »
Between now and 31 December, no less than thirteen races will be organised in Paris, i.e. around fifty events a year, including the Paris Marathon and the Paris Half Marathon, which attract around 50,000 runners. At these races, especially the longer ones, more than a million bottles are sold each year to supply the runners. “They usually only drink two or three sips before throwing it away. I know this because it happened to me when I was running too.”Pierre Rabadan insisted – according to the count by the city council. So no more individual bottles and other cans or bricks, make way for reusable bottles and cups. The city of Paris has invested in a stock of 100,000 of these cups that it will be able to lend to race organisers.
“Zero single-use plastic” goal for the Olympic Games
During the Olympic marathon, however, competitors benefited from an exemption to continue using bottles – to avoid the risk of contamination or even doping, according to the organizing committee – and elite athletes could continue to benefit from it. “The issue is the masses and all the other participants who do not dedicate their season to a race”the Parisian sports assistant said.
Inspired by initiatives taken in Munich, Amsterdam, San Francisco, but especially in the countryside. London recharge (2018) on the other side of the English Channel or even 20 km from Brussels, the city has been working since 2019 to achieve the goal of “zero single-use plastic”for hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which have been claimed to be the greenest in history. And bearers of a legacy to continue.
However, thanks to the “global” sponsors of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), it is the American giant Coca-Cola, the first “plastic polluter” in the world according to the 2023 ranking of the NGO Break Free from Plastic, which had been entrusted with the exclusive distribution of drinks at the 2024 Olympic Games. Numerous associations, including France Nature Environnement, Zero Waste France and No Plastic in My Sea, have done so. received the medal of greenwashing The IOC partner: the soft drinks producer highlighted its fountains, returnable cups and glass bottles. But more than 40% of all drinks distributed were poured into an eco-cup made of… a plastic bottle. The kind we should no longer see during the Parisian races.
