Given all the news regarding the recent 2021 COP Summit in Scotland, we thought it was a good time to bring you up to date with what we are trying to do to make the Club more environmentally friendly, and to lessen our carbon footprint.
- We have commissioned external experts to carry out a full energy use review of the stadium, to see where we can cost-effectively make changes to cut down on energy consumption;
- We have upgraded much of the lighting to new energy-efficient LED light fittings and are now look at the feasibility of installing motion sensors to ensure that they are only on when strictly needed;
- We are introducing all around the ground new recycling bins, to ensure our waste is correctly separated and as much as possible can be recycled. You can help us massively by using the right bin on a matchday;
- The players will no longer be using plastic water bottles at the Campus, but will instead use refillable bottles. This will mean there are between 400-500 fewer plastic bottles being used every week;
- One of the items we have traditionally used a lot of on a match day, due to restrictions on the use of bottles and glasses within stadium concourses, is single use plastic glasses. We are going to be replacing these with biodegradable/recyclable alternatives;
- In similar vein, we will be phasing out the use of polystyrene food containers in favour of biodegradable/recyclable alternatives;
- Last week we installed bicycle racks for up to 40 bicycles, which we hope will encourage people to cycle to the stadium instead of using cars. We can add more in the future if the demand is there;
- We are looking into the feasibility of installing electric vehicle charging points at Prenton Park;
- We are introducing more vegan alternatives onto the matchday menus, such as vegan pasties, to increase choice for those who want to cut down on meat consumption;
- We have signed up to the EFL’s Green Clubs initiative, to work in collaboration with others to see what more we can do to lessen our environmental impact;
- We are encouraging all of the staff to be much more conscious regarding their energy usage, and the impact of simple things such as leaving lights and equipment switched on when not in use;
- We are having discussions regarding the feasibility of having our own renewable energy sources at the stadium and/or the training ground, in the form of solar panels and/or small vertical axis wind turbines.
Unfortunately, Prenton Park is an old stadium and was built with uninsulated roofs and walls, and it contains a lot of old and energy-inefficient boilers and equipment. The likelihood is that some of the bigger changes we would like to make simply are not possible (for structural reasons) or economically viable unless and until we move stadium. If we were to move to a new stadium then we would put energy efficiency and environmental protection right at the heart of the design from the outset. But in the meantime residing in an ageing stadium should not, and will not, prevent us from taking action where we can to lessen our impact on the planet, and we believe the measures outlined above are a significant step in the right direction.