The London FA and the UK’s leading resource management company, Veolia, have donated recycled bibs and drawstring bags, made from the 2022 FA Cup Final recycled pitch cover, to local youth football clubs in support of the London FA’s green developmental activities.
Veolia and the Football Association (FA) teamed up back in 2022 to shoot for sustainability by
creating a recycled plastic banner which unveiled the pitch ready for the 2022 FA Cup Final.
Veolia collected and sorted 47,600 plastic bottles from previous events at Wembley Stadium and
recycled them into PET plastic yarn. This recycled material was then spun into the 2022 FA Cup
Final’s 105 metre long and 68 metre wide match day pitch cover, emblazoned with the two finalist
teams’ logos.
Now in 2024, in line with The FA’s Sustainability Strategy to Save Our Resources and Veolia’s
regeneration of resources strategy, the banner has been repurposed into drawstring bags and
sports bibs. These were donated to participants of the London Girls Cup Final and local London
grassroot teams.
In addition to supporting the London FA’s green development activities, this project also delivers
carbon reductions as recycling plastic typically saves up to 70% of the emissions associated with
virgin material production.
Gisela Endres, Veolia Senior Contract Manager commented:
"Supporting the 2022 FA Cup Final was just the start of the recycling journey for these plastic
bottles, and it has been exciting to put sustainability first once more with this project.
“We have utilised our expertise to create bibs and bags for footballers all over the country to enjoy
and showcase what can be achieved when regenerating resources.
“This is just one of the innovations we are working on to proudly support The London FA, and we
are excited to continue finding sustainable solutions to make our game greener."
London FA Head of Partnerships Aquila Burgess commented:
“We are delighted to be working with The FA and Veolia UK who have kindly helped to support
some of our developmental activities. We look forward to seeing this in practice and hope our clubs
will benefit from this support”.
