Twickenham Stadium is repurposing its plastic cup event waste into sustainable benches for use across grassroots rugby, with the help of Lyfecycle. The move follows the launch of its ‘self-destructing’ plastic cup.
It says this announcement is just the latest in a series of innovations from the venue, which both promote circular solutions to events-based waste, but also leave purposeful legacies. The Lyfecycle benches are already being used as part of the Rugby Football Union’s ‘Good for Rugby’ initiative.
“It’s important that all of our customers know that every time they hold an event in Twickenham, they are directly and positively affecting grassroots rugby,” commented Nils Braude, managing director, Twickenham Stadium. “It’s not always as visible as this, so it’s nice to give them a picture – literally – of their waste being transformed from rubbish to a really useful piece of kit for local rugby.”
Twickenham Stadium’s cups used at the Autumn Nations Series were collected and repurposed into sustainable benches with the help of Lyfecycle and their community recycling partners, Impact Solutions, and Circular 11.
The cups were cleaned and shredded before being mixed with recycled plastic. This mixture was then melted and shaped into planks for the bench. “The bench is expected to last for decades, but when it eventually reaches the end of its life, it can be recycled into a new timber alternative product,” added Connor Winter, co-founder at Circular 11.
“We may battle it out on the pitch, but the fight against plastic pollution requires all of us to be on the same team,” added Winter.
