Blantyre Soccer Academy started in 2010 with the aim to advance public participation in amateur football by promoting the game through the provision of recreational facilities. An initial membership of 120, quickly increased to 300 by 2014. The committee recognised they had an opportunity and responsibility to educate and influence the behaviour of our members and families around the environmental challenges and so our Passback vision was born. Our vision was translated to the following goals, to be delivered through our partnership with CCF. 1. CO2 Outcomes a) Reduce carbon emissions with new laundry equipment b) Reduce carbon emission of travel related behaviour connected to BSA community 2. Community Outcomes a) Recycling of sports kit and other equipment b) Reduce carbon emissions through car sharing for training and match days A successful application to Climate Challenge Fund in 2014 allowed BSA to embark on a 2 year project across our membership and the local community to positively influence the impact they have on our environment.
The last 27 months has been a journey, more reflective of a marathon than a sprint. Whilst challenges have been presented, they have largely been overcome, with great progress and successes along the way to make it all worthwhile; whilst also recognising there is still so much we can do. This feels more of a mid term report than final, but reflective of the significant progress made within our project timescales. Against our original Key Deliverables & Outcomes it could be summarised as follows: C02 Emissions: o Laundry equipment: Mid Table and progressing. Positive from 11 aside teams who have changing facilities, but not from our younger teams who come dressed. o Travel reduction of BSA: Coaches have influenced and shown the way in car sharing. Community Achievements o Kit Recycling: Premier League. Fantastic buy in to both donation of old/used equipment and the use of recycled equipment. A real behavioural change. o Car Sharing: Mid table performance. Good progress around car sharing for training nights, but more to do for Match days where parents want to come along and support their kids and typically take their own cars. Reflecting back, the proudest achievements may not align to the planned outcomes, but were: The support of our membership and their wider families to get involved with Passback The behavioural change from everything is thrown away when it s too small to can someone else benefit from these strips, football boots, trainers. It s cultural change!
Key Outputs from the project included Advice & Information centres Delivered through 2 key approaches: Leaflets around 3 sport centres where our bins were located, promoting our recycling activity. The Blantyre Soccer Academy Hub where anyone could drop in for advice or make donations. Training Session Initial launch of Passback with presentation to steering group & representatives from all 9 age groups Attendance at monthly coaches meetings to discuss progress, challenges and share ideas. Events Held 3 Key events each year: Reamonn Gormley Memorial Soccer Festival Jumpers for Goalpost October camp Hotshots CCF Employees 1 FTE as sustainable development officer
Key Outputs from the project included Project Participants/ Beneficiaries Support was provided by the Blantyre Soccer Academy Committee & Trustees Project Volunteers 2 volunteers worked on a regular week to week basis 10 volunteers provided additional support in the weeks leading up to each of the annual events Schools The annual Jumpers for Goalposts allowed engagement with all the local schools, encouraging attendance and supporting Passback
Reamonn Gormley Festival Tragically in 2011 Reamonn Gormley, a 19 year old student and former player with Blantyre, was murdered. In memory of Reamonn, Blantyre Soccer Academy established an annual football festival, run over 2 days, which is the largest in Lanarkshire with in excess of 2000 kids attending. All monies raised are distributed across the charities Reamonn worked with. With the introduction of Passback there was a great opportunity to allow a wider population to see, contribute and benefit from the recycling approach. 1 2 3 Passback Stall Education Buy In A great Visual display was created in the main indoor arena where all kids had to register, allowing them to see the strips, football boots and trainers available. This brought kids and parents over through curiosity. Talking about the project and raising peoples awareness of the volume & impact of simply binning clothes/ trainers that were simply too small. Often people had just never thought of the impact of their actions. With the festival running over 2 days, many people took items on Day 1 and returned on Day 2 to donate items all because of their increased knowledge & experience. 295 items received, 467 passed back across the 2 days.
Jumper for Goalposts - October Football School The October school week can be a long week for kids and parents alike. For the last 2 years, Blantyre Soccer Academy have run football camps across the week for kids from all the local schools to come along and have fun. This was a great opportunity to raise awareness and get the wider local community engaged with Passback. Kids attending the camp or parents just dropping off could not miss the rows of strips, boots and trainers on show, which naturally brought them over to ask questions, before taking some kit and bringing replacements the next day. Total Items handed out: 673 Clothes, 102 Boots/ Trainers Total Items handed in: 203 Clothes, 46 Boots/ Trainers
Recycling Bins Sourcing, purchasing & delivery of bins took time and were costly! Negotiations with local council required to gain approval to locate 2 bins at each of their 3 primary sports locations, Palace Grounds, Bent Park and Jock Stein (in addition to outside our BSA Hub. Bins were emptied on a regular basis when our coaches were scheduled to attend the locations for training, Quality of items left in bins varied significantly, especially at the beginning. Some needed a quick wash and were ready to go out again, whilst some were simply unsuitable for redistribution. Feedback from kids and parents has shown this has been a great success, with many people donating and swapping clothes/ football boots who would never have considered this before Laundry 2 Commercial Laundry machines sourced and fitted within a dedicated laundry room at our Soccer Academy Hub. Challenge with fitting due to the room being below ground level so additional plumbing work required, but we got there. Weekly laundry completed for our 4 11aside teams from the first week the washing machines were ready for use. With up to 16 full sized kits at a time, it was a tight squeeze to get these dried naturally i.e. no tumble dryer here!! Our Passback clothes were all fully laundered before they were allowed to go out for recycling. Oh, and don t forget the job of scrubbing football boots too!!
Car Sharing 19 Teams across BSA community with ~400 kids and 70 coaches. Depending on age, could be training once a week or training twice a week and playing a game at the weekend. Commitment! Training across Hamilton and Blantyre, though match days can take teams across South Lanarkshire and Glasgow. Coaches leading the way to encourage car sharing across their teams. Clear change of behaviour for Training nights; you now often see 1 driver and 4 kids in a car. Really difficult to influence the Match day travel as parents/ grandparents and friends typically make their own way to matches Mini Bus BSA mini bus was purchased to support the transporting of our disability teams, normally to Glasgow, Edinburgh and Greenock. Minibus would take full team and coaches, typically avoiding the need to take up to 5 cars. Use of Minibus was extended to include more teams, reducing the number of cars required when traveling outside Blantyre/Hamilton area e.g. Amateur team, Over 35 s and other 11aside teams. Whilst helping to reduce the CO2 emissions against multiple car journeys, it has also helped build real team spirit within teams as each journey is like an Away Match.
1 2 3 4 Reduce carbon emissions with new laundry equipment Reduce carbon emissions of travel related behaviour connected to BSA community Recycling of sports kits and other equipment Reduce carbon emissions through car sharing for training and match days Outcome partially delivered Outcome partially delivered Outcome met of exceeded Outcome partially delivered
1 Reduce carbon emissions with new laundry equipment Outcome partially delivered 2 1.7 ton CO2e saved Use of 2 Commercial washing machines to wash kit centrally instead of individual washing. Up to 80 loads of washing per month, dependent on number of games. All washing was air dried on a pulley. Lower volumes primarily down to reduced opportunity as younger age groups arrived dressed for training/games due to lack of changing facilities; focus had to subsequently be on our 11 aside teams. Reduce carbon emissions of travel related behaviour connected to BSA Community via Car Sharing Outcome partially delivered 44.35 ton of CO2e saved Coaches and parents bought into the car sharing, especially for training where parents would rarely come to spectate. Car sharing and minibus was used to support activities further afield like Tinto climb, Scottish/Regional Cup games. Car sharing was not as successful on match days when families often travelled to support the team, but car sharing was not always front of mind.
3 Recycling of sports kits and other equipment Outcome met or exceeded 2129 items of clothing/boo ts handed in 1.554 tons CO2e saved not going to Landfill 48.85 tons CO2e saved by reusing BSA membership, parents and wider friends and family embraced the concept of recycling, both via donating items and taking items. Donation bins set up at frequently used sports locations and BSA Hub to collect items, using the commercial washing machines for cleaning; typically 90kg per month. Volunteers helped with scrubbing the boots to get them ready for recycling. Events run throughout the year were very successful, both in terms of recycling current stock and receiving replacement items. Kids also changed their attitude to recycling kit when they started to see the good quality of many of the items being recycled; it wasn t all the very old, kicked football boots and trainers they expected to see. Cultural change being achieved through changing peoples approach to how they deal with clothing and footwear which are too small or no longer required by their kids.
Financial Accountability for the overall project budget was a new experience and this has certainly developed greater awareness of the importance of budget planning and how unexpected challenges can eat into a budget. It is however a transferable skills which can be used going forward, so the pain has been worth it. Budget projections were included in the application and it was very pleasing to report that the overall expenditure for the project came in slightly less than budgeted. However, everything did not fall into the exact planned expenditure with some areas being more expensive, which resulted in savings having to made from other areas of the budget. The key focus was however to recognise there was a finite budget to work to and any overspend in one area had a detrimental effect somewhere else. Fortunately the monthly reporting made sure there was always a good discipline around keeping on top of the amount of money used in one area. The mechanics of moving budget from one area to another took some getting used to, but fortunately it didn t happen too often and the support at CCF helped along the way.
Administration It was important to plan ahead to ensure the administration of running the project was kept up to date. Failing to keep on top of the various activities could quickly lead to backlogs. Our project had a fairly steady flow of work across the year and with the volunteer support, it kept the weekly activity on track. It was however a real challenge when the key events were coming up, but fortunately more volunteers could be called upon during this short, but very busy period. Providing direction around what was required did not cause any issues and the volunteers were happy to support in whatever way was required. Whilst compiling the monthly reports was time consuming, gathering all the information and calculating savings against targets, once this was done for the first few months, it wasn t as big a challenge. It quickly became clearer how to record information and how to calculate the savings. The monthly reports were a great tool for showing where we were against targets and gave us the opportunity to update our development officers of the monthly activity within our organisation they got to see the whole picture.
Personal Project Went Well Could have been better Just didn t go to plan Car Sharing for Training evenings Volume of clothing received Redistribution of clothing Buy In from parents and volunteers Volume/Positioning of Bins Bins: mistaken for a litter bin by some Unusable clothing/ boots Additional washing/ cleaning required More drying space Only 11 aside teams used the laundry, so lower volumes. Plumbing issues due to office location Limited car sharing for match days Stakeholder Management New Skills Reporting, accounts, networking, negotiating Training report requirements etc Support from CCF e.g visiting Confidence when chairing large group meetings. Allowed coaches to wander oft the agenda. Key Learning Our project is about cultural change, which takes time. Our membership and families see the benefit, but it s important to continually remind them how they can contribute, even with small changes to their behaviour. This continual reinforcement of the message was underestimated at the outset.
Outcome Barrier or Mistake How I managed to overcome Reduce carbon emissions with new laundry equipment Initial estimation was all 11 of our teams would use the laundry facility, but only those with adequate changing facilities actually could, restricting laundry to our 11 aside teams We could not make up for the reduction from 11 to 4 age groups. Focus was getting those teams playing 11 aside to use the laundry facility 100% of the time. Going forward, every year we have a new team moving from 7aside to 11 aside, so the opportunity for more kits to be cleaned via this approach increases. Reduce carbon emissions of travel related behaviour Expectation that parents/grandparen ts would naturally speak to each other and share transport to games after explaining our goals. Working with the coaches got more parents to start car sharing during the training sessions during the week, typically 2 nights per week, so positive impact. Use of Minibus to take team and coaches to games across Saturday/ Sundays. What we struggled to overcome was parents/grandparents taking cars to match day games need to consider how they could better discuss/ car share in future.
As we now reach the end of the project, our committee have discussed our next steps, agreeing: The club will continue to support Passback, encouraging our membership to continue their focus on recycling sports kit, including football boots and trainers. Our coaches will continue to encourage car sharing across their teams, and identify opportunities to push forward how to increase car sharing on match days. Making use of the commercial washing machines will continue, with the opportunity to increase the volume of washing completed as a further team moves up to 11 asides. As you see, as an academy, we are committed to continue the journey we are on, though we are acutely aware that funding will be required to allow the focus to continue at the same level.
What our parents thought of Passback. Photographs of some of our events held across the years. Publicity Flyer used to promote Passback across our membership Our Monthly Tracker
Passback is such a good idea. It helped me out a few times when football boots were too small but payday was still too far away!! It s great to get our kit cleaned every week. One less thing to go wrong in the washing! Clearing out the boys wardrobes, loads of things are like new but too small, Passback is a great way to avoid throwing them out Great that we have the minibus to take kids to and from games to save us all taking individual cars I ve started to recycle clothes and boots and suddenly friends and family are now doing the same. It s infectious. Don t have to worry about colours running and my strip turning pink now. Great idea to wash it centrally. I never really thought about what happened to the clothes I threw away before, but now I think twice and look to recycle Sharing lifts to training saves us all running back 2-3 times a week Kids grow out of football boots so quickly, the boots are like new. Exchanging them is a brilliant idea and helps out financially Car sharing has given me back a few hours a week & I know my son is safe coming & going to training I would never have thought about handing in football boots that are too small before I heard of Passback. Great idea! Car sharing to & from training saves an hour sitting in the car with the engine running to keep warm in winter.
Totals Month Washing Number of Teams Kg C02e Conversion Conversion Washing Loads Cars Clothes Clothes Co2e savings Saved Rate Rate 2014 Domestic Commercial Saving From To Saving IN Weight 0.526 OUT weight 21.674 March Tinto Climb 33 19 14 263.54 0.000 0 April Ayr Tournament 50 20 30 1,920.10 0.000 0 Ayr Tournament 21 16 5 320.02 0.000 0 13 Teams 20 13 7 1233.35 0.000 0 May 51 36 15 58.39 Giffnock Tournament 10 6 4 36.15 154 179.1 94.207 6 10.5 227.577 Stirling Tournament 16 11 5 105.42 0.000 0 13 Teams 20 13 7 1850.15 0.000 0 June Holytown Tournament 18 13 5 23.53 0.000 0 Holytown Tournament 22 14 8 29.73 0.000 0 13 Teams 20 14 6 1057.2 68 72.75 38.267 90 81.45 1765.3473 July No games or Training 0 0 0 102 112.5 59.175 0 Aug 69 48 21 80.15 14 Teams 20 14 6 1328.29 49 70.9 37.293 6 9.5 205.903 Sept 86 60 26 100 14 Teams 20 13 7 1531.04 46 65.5 34.453 9 15 325.11 Cambuslang Tournament 18 8 10 39.76 0.000 0 Oct 69 48 21 80.15 14 Teams 20 12 8 2024.04 60 79.25 41.686 284 338.1 7327.9794 Nov 86 60 26 100 14 Teams 20 12 8 2271.1 81 105.95 55.730 85 118.2 2561.8668 Dec 34 24 10 39.2 14 Teams 20 13 7 885.42 95 91.2 47.971 0 0 0 0.000 0 2015 0.000 0 0.000 0 Jan 91 64 27 105 14 Teams 20 12 8 2024.04 25 30.75 16.175 30 40.5 877.797 Feb 91 64 27 105 14 Teams 20 12 8 2024.04 28 45.1 23.723 18 23.5 509.339 March 91 64 27 105 18 Teams 20 14 6 1950 66 105.8 55.651 20 27.25 590.6165 April 69 48 21 80 18 Teams 20 13 7 1707.32 380 400.2 210.505 47 87.5 1896.475 May 114 80 34 132 18 Teams 20 13 7 2846.2 99 154.8 81.425 75 128.3 2780.7742 Ayr Tournament 78 29 49 4064.3 0.000 0 Ayr Tournament 44 35 9 576.03 0.000 0 June 23 16 7 27 18 Teams 20 14 6 1462 227 539.2 283.619 377 534 11573.916 July 0 0 0 No games or Training 0 0 0 55 64.75 34.059 0 0 0 August 69 48 21 80.15 18 Teams 20 14 6 1462.44 58 75 39.450 0 0 0 September 69 48 21 80.15 18 Teams 20 15 5 1219.32 62 84.75 44.579 71 86.35 1871.5499 October 91 64 27 105 18 Teams 20 14 6 1950 143 190.8 100.361 389 466.65 10114.1721 November 91 64 27 105 18 Teams 20 15 5 1626 78 130.7 68.748 24 68.25 1479.2505 December 69 48 21 80.1 18 Teams 20 14 6 1462.3 37 40.25 21.172 12 14.25 308.8545 January 69 48 21 80.1 18 Teams 20 15 5 1626 61 61.15 32.165 29 29 628.546 February 91 64 27 105.1 19 Teams 20 15 5 1716 83 115.25 60.622 36 36.5 791.101 March 91 64 27 105 19 Teams 20 15 5 1716 72 138.35 72.772 99 139.25 3018.1045 0.000 0 1514 1060 454 1752.49 402 259 143 44350.83 2254.0 1707 2129 2954 1553.804 5 48854.2797 1.7 Ton Co2e 44.35 Ton Co2e 1.554 Ton Co2e 48.85 Ton Co2e