RECYCLING PROJECT FOR THE PRELIMINARY DRAW OF THE 2018 FIFA WORLD CUP - IF Sustainability Project - Olympic.org

IF Sustainability Project
RECYCLING PROJECT FOR
THE PRELIMINARY DRAW OF
THE 2018 FIFA WORLD CUP

IF SUSTAINABILITY PROJECT
The world faces important challenges           sourcing & resource management; mobility;
across a wide spectrum of economic,            workforce; and climate. These focus
social and environmental issues, and the       areas were selected through an extensive
sport community is not immune from their       stakeholder engagement process, taking
impacts. The Olympic Movement has              into consideration today’s key sustainability
both an opportunity and a duty to actively     challenges and the manner in which the
contribute to the global sustainability        IOC believes the Olympic Movement
debate in line with its vision of “Building    can most significantly contribute to
a better world through sport”.                 addressing them.
    With this in mind, and in response to         The case studies are also aligned with
recommendation 5 of Olympic Agenda             the United Nations’ (UN) framework of 17
2020 (“Include sustainability within                    Sustainable Development Goals
the Olympic Movement’s                                   (SDGs). This framework is pivotal
daily operations”), the                                    for the Olympic Movement:
IOC conducted the                                            in September 2015, the UN
International Federation                                       General Assembly confirmed
(IF) Sustainability Project                                     the important role that
throughout 2016. The                                            sport can play in supporting
IOC carried out the project                                    the UN’s 2030 Agenda for
with three objectives:                                         Sustainable Development
obtaining an overview of                                       and its SDGs.
IFs’ sustainability initiatives;
identifying common topics,                            “Sport is also an important enabler
good practices and shared challenges;          of sustainable development. We recognise
and sharing information among the IFs.         the growing contribution of sport to the
As part of this project, the IOC               realisation of development and peace in its
collaborated with the IFs to compile           promotion of tolerance and respect and the
a series of case studies reflecting how        contributions it makes to the empowerment
IFs are contributing towards a more            of women and of young people, individuals
sustainable world.                             and communities as well as to health,
    Each case study is aligned with one        education and social inclusion objectives.”
or more of the IOC’s five sustainability       Paragraph 37, UN 2030 Agenda
focus areas: infrastructure & natural sites;   for Sustainable Development

FIFA HAS ESTABLISHED A MAJOR RECYCLING INITIATIVE
AS PART OF ITS SUSTAINABILITY PROGRAMME FOR
THE 2018 FIFA WORLD CUP IN RUSSIA.

D
           espite increasing environmental        management and their willingness to
           awareness among citizens, no           support the project on a pro bono basis.      OBJECTIVES
           fully-fledged system of separate       The NGOs provided more than 75 trained
waste collection currently exists in Russia.      volunteers, who were responsible for          The FIFA World Cup Preliminary Draw is an official event at which
It is said that waste disposal sites in Russia    processing recyclables.                       participating national teams are randomly drawn into regional qualifying
currently occupy around 30,000 square                More than 1,000 people attended the        groups for the FIFA World Cup. Supplementary events such as
miles, and waste processing facilities in         events across the various venues, at          banquets and official press conferences are normally held during the
Moscow are close to full capacity. It has         which over two tons of recyclable waste       same week. The waste management procedures set in place for the
become increasingly important for Russia          was collected in over 300 containers. In      Preliminary Draw, which was staged in July 2015, were designed to
to take action in addressing and solving its      total, 655kg of polyethylene packaging,       raise awareness about recycling in Russia; to start the recycling project
waste management problem.                         790kg of cardboard and paper, 350kg           for the 2018 FIFA World Cup; and to create learning and experience
                                                                                                opportunities for the cleaning and waste management team of the
   As part of FIFA’s sustainability initiatives   of glass, 107kg of plastic bottles, 77kg
                                                                                                Local Organising Committee (LOC).
for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia,            of organic waste and 6kg of batteries
approximately 20 per cent of all waste            were sent for recycling, and more than
collected during the hosting of the               three tons of decorations created for
Preliminary Draw in Saint Petersburg was          the Preliminary Draw will be reused for
recycled through a system put in place            upcoming civic events.
by the LOC. The project was part of the              As a supporting initiative, 200 children
Sustainability Strategy developed by FIFA         aged 12-16 were given the opportunity
and the LOC.                                      to attend two one-hour lectures on the
    More than ten voluntary organisations         benefits of separating and processing
and businesses from Saint Petersburg              collected waste. The objectives were
took part in the waste management                 to raise awareness and encourage
and recycling process. These Non-                 younger generations to take a more
Government Organisations (NGOs) were              responsible attitude towards nature and
chosen for their experience with waste            the environment.

Each project             IOC FOCUS AREA      UN SDG
contributes to
one or more of the
IOC’s sustainability
focus areas and
one or more of the         SOURCING
                          & RESOURCE
UN’s SDGs:                MANAGEMENT

TIME & PERSONNEL                           areas, and their work was said to
The LOC had one full-time staff member     have contributed towards a change in
on the project, who was employed two       attitudes to waste management among
months before the Preliminary Draw.        those working on the 2018 FIFA World
He was supported by the NGOs, which        Cup. The recycling programme will be
were engaged from one month before         replicated at the FIFA Confederations
the event.                                 Cup Draw in Kazan, Russia in
                                           December 2016, and similar operations
COMMUNICATION                              are planned for the FIFA World Cup
A press release was issued on the FIFA     Final Draw in December 2017, the FIFA
website before and after the Preliminary   Confederations Cup in 2017 and the
Draw, complemented by posts on             FIFA World Cup Final Tournament
FIFA’s social media channels. A short      in 2018.
video was produced after the event and
was shared with the public via FIFA’s
communication channels. The project
also featured in FIFA’s weekly magazine,
which is sent worldwide to media
contacts.

EVALUATION
In an internal operational evaluation
conducted by the LOC relating to the
hosting of the Preliminary Draw, the
cleaning and waste team received
the highest marks of all the functional

                                                                      FIFA CONTACT: FIFA Sustainability & Diversity Department (sustainability@fifa.org)