Mount Batten Watersports and Activities Centre receive Plastic Free Gold Award

8th June 2022

The Mount Batten Watersports and Activities Centre has recently been awarded Gold for their ongoing plastic free pledge. The Centre are original members of the Plastic Free Plymouth Waterfront and Plastic Free Plymouth campaign, originally inspired by the Surfers Against Sewage Plastic Free Communities project. The local scheme has now been extended to include an awards element by Environment Plymouth and the wider Interreg funded programme.

Alex King, Chief Operating Officer/CEO of the Mount Batten Centre Charity Trust said:

“Whilst we have always been mindful of the impact that our operations have, in recent years we have really committed to reducing, wherever possible, our impact on our local environment and indeed the planet. We have had solar energy panels on our building for several years already, drastically reduced single use plastic usage, committed to the RYA The Green Blue initiative, and have, from the outset, been Pioneers for the Plastic Free Plymouth campaign. We will continue to ensure our sustainability policy and process and environmental impact is as low as it can be within budget and supplier constraints wherever possible.”

The Mount Batten Centre continue to commit to removing, eliminating and replacing single use plastic wherever possible within the Centre and have made a switch to local supplier, Cornish Tea and Cornish Coffee Ltd. for the Centre’s onsite food and drink offering, The Lookout, as all their products are 100% plastic free. The Centre is also working with other suppliers to ensure that plastic use is dramatically reduced and preferably eliminated. The Centre offers water refill stations for customers, staff and visitors and encourages all who visit to bring refillable bottles for use.

The Centre is undertaking a full review/audit of all supplier’s environmental and sustainability practices and their procurement process to ensure in line with the Centre’s own values/policies.

Jackie Young, Environment Plymouth said:

“Plymouth’s ongoing ‘plastic free’ campaign continues to gain support from all sorts of organisations but, from talking to our Ambassadors, we realised that many were doing more to contribute to the city’s environment and local communities. Many were also planning out their own environmental improvements too and reducing plastic use was often right at the centre of the action. The Mount Batten Centre was clearly one of these. In addition to making a strong and lasting commitment to reducing single use plastic, they were also using their waterside focus to organise waterborne litter picks to clear plastic from Plymouth Sound and continually improving, and promoting, their own sustainability policy. It was a win-win situation that deserved recognition with the Plastic Free Gold Awards status.”

The Mount Batten Watersports and Activities Centre is proud to be signatories of the Resurgam Charter and is committed to supporting the city's bid to make Plymouth carbon neutral by 2030. As key partners of the Plymouth Sound National Marine Park Horizons Project the Centre will ensure ongoing enjoyment of Plymouth’s unique blue space for the benefit of all. The Centre is also one of the first businesses in the city to sign up to the Green Tourism scheme through Destination Plymouth and are now working towards accreditation.