One Planet Living Principles

Lord’s sustainability policy provides a framework for making decisions based on Bioregional’s One Planet Living Principles, which promote a holistic approach to sustainability. The ten principles include aspects such as health and happiness, zero carbon energy, land & nature, sustainable water, and local and sustainable food. 

 

Renewably Powered

 

Lord’s switched to 100% wind power in 2017. The energy is generated close to home by the London Array, the second biggest off-shore wind farm in the world at the mouth of the Thames Estuary. Switching to wind power has reduced the venue’s annual carbon footprint from utilities by 80% whilst reducing its contribution to greenhouse gases and climate change.

 

 

 

Additional renewable energy is produced by solar PV, solar thermal and a ground-source heat pump in the venue’s Warner Stand. Machinery such as leaf blowers and buggies are all electric too, eliminating as much pollution as possible from the grounds.  

 

Reducing Single Use Plastics

 

Lord’s has drastically reduced the amount of single-use plastic given to spectators, saving around 1.5 million between 2017 and 2018. This has been achieved by:

 

  • Switching to washable, reusable cups with a £1 deposit scheme. The cups are minimally branded to encourage returns
  • Encouraging spectators to use the 25 water fountains around the grounds and bring their own refillable bottles to top-up
  • Removing plastic straws completely, and only providing a paper straw if requested
  • Selling water in aluminium cans rather than single use plastic bottles
  • Selling soft drinks from bulk dispensers
  • Removing plastic bags from shops and switching to strong paper bags

 

Reducing Waste

 

Lord’s separate waste streams include glass, food, cardboard packaging, wood, metals, electronic waste and batteries, paints and solvents, and recycle as much waste as possible. On match days, customers are asked to separate general waste and recyclable waste into colour-coded bins.

 

When it comes to food, first and foremost Lord's tries to manage its ordering to minimise the amount of waste produced. Unused edible food is offered to the local community through a partnership with food redistribution charity, City Harvest. Waste food than cannot be used for human consumption is mechanically dewatered on-site (to reduce weight and volume) and sent for anaerobic digestion, a process that produces ‘bio-gas’ which can then be used to generate electricity. The waste left at the end of this process is used as a soil improver for agriculture.

 

Cricket and Climate Change

 

These are just some of the reasons why the ‘Home of Cricket’ is considered to be a leader in  sustainability within sporting venues. With climate change set to hit the sport hard, this is an issue close to the heart of Lord’s making this a poignant place to bring together the dozens of charities, heritage organisations, cultural venues and more in our network as they work together to become climate-friendly, adaptive and resilient.

 

Our members can sign up for the Harvest 2019 here. If you are not currently a member but are interested in getting involved, find out how to join.