#PlayACleanGame
What are we doing?
We are working with councils, sports teams and community groups in partnership with Keep Scotland Beautiful to:

• Switch to reusable bottles and fill up from the tap;
• Leave no litter on pitches and recycle as much as possible;
• Educate clubs, community groups and sports governing bodies on their environmental impact and inspire them to adopt more environmentally friendly practices.

Why are we doing this? To reduce plastic use.

• Over one million plastic bottles are sold every minute worldwide; In the UK 38.5 million plastic bottles are used every day. 40% are used just once and then tossed. On average, we each use 150 bottles each year.
• Plastic is made from oil which is a finite resource and is not easy to recycle.
• Plastic can take hundreds of years to break down – if at all – and kills animals, birds and sea life.
• By 2050, there could be more plastic than fish in the ocean. Our litter makes its way into gutters and streams that empty into rivers and the sea. 80% of marine litter comes from the land, and bottles make up a third of all plastic marine litter. Litter kills animals, birds and sealife.
• Plastic never fully decomposes but breaks down into tiny pieces (less than 5mm) called microplastics. There are more microplastic particles in the oceans than stars in the galaxy. The effects of microplastics in our food chain and on our health are still being studied but they have been found in human and animal organs.
• Using a refillable bottle could save you over £100 each year (2 bottles per week while playing sports). We have great drinking water in Scotland so look after our planet and your pocket!

Get involved

• Reduce - Reuse - Recycle
• Ditch the single-use plastic, switch to reusable bottles.
• Clean up after your games. Use bins and recycling points or take your litter home. You may want to appoint a Green Champion to ensure the pitch is clean after every event.
• Join us on one of the regular litter picks and beach cleans – for Inverclyde event details, visit our litter picking page or follow us on socials. Other events are on keepscotlandbeautiful.org

SCOTTISH PILOT STUDY

From January to June 2024:

• 3 clubs with 2250 players saved 30,375 plastic bottles from landfill.
• Use of reusable water bottles across the clubs increased from 54% to 72%.
• Single use plastic bottles reduced from 32% to 18%.
• The clubs saved money on bottles of water and disposal of bottles, and saved time cleaning pitches. They improved their environmental image.

What was provided to the clubs?

• Reusable water bottles with club logos for all players.
• Promotional material and banners to encourage behavioural change.
• Measurement surveys to assess the impact.
• Education and learning materials for coaches and players.

Great work teams!

• Big thanks to Pollok United, Thorn Athletic and Giffnock Soccer Centre for their time and energy in the pilot as well as to our partner Keep Scotland Beautiful who provided the learning and education materials and the Scottish Football Association for their support. We also want to thank the National Lottery Community Fund for funding this pilot.
  

#PlayACleanGame Guidelines

What is available to help you #PlayACleanGame ?

• Posters (if available)
• Social media images
• Press release text
• Survey tool
• Educational information and activity sheets
• Communication plan
• Best practice ideas 

What you need to do

CLUBS, PLAYERS AND FAMILIES

• Get approval and support from coaches and club leaders/management. 
• Ensure players have access to tap water.
• Use the draft communications plan to develop a simple plan.
• Agree the format of the launch of the campaign and promote the dates. 
• Agree when data will be collected at the beginning and the end of the season to evidence the impact of your efforts.
• Agree if you will use the survey for players and families, you could utilise polls on WhatsApp if that is easier. 

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Form a team of interested people to drive the campaign.
• Appoint a project lead. 
• Appoint someone responsible for communications. 
• Appoint someone to manage data collection and to collate the data. 
  

BEHAVIOUR CHANGE HINTS 

Any change in behaviour is difficult and requires constant reminders and support. Here are some suggestions of what we have found works: 

• It is important that coaches, players and families understand why the change to reusable bottles is important. Keep Scotland Beautiful has produced educational activity sheets to help.
• Provide regular reinforcement at training, socials and WhatsApp groups.
• Keep the message simple.
• Peer pressure is very helpful so encourage ownership by enthusiastic players. 
  
• Celebrate successes. 

DATA

• Collecting data is important to evidence success and encourage continual engagement. Use the Bottle and Can templates in this toolkit before you start the campaign and again at the end. This allows you to record what players are using before you start promoting reusable water bottles and again after your campaign.
• There is a survey to find out the attitude of players and parents. This is useful to engage and encourage players to think about their behaviour. 
  

BEST PRACTICE IDEAS 

• Utilise a Coach meeting to engage them in the project. Coaches are the key to your success.
• Work with training ground staff to ensure players have access to water to fill their bottles. 
• Encourage players to bring reusable water bottles by emphasising the money they will save if they do not have to buy single use bottles.
• Utilise promotional materials - banners, posters and images for social media posts, WhatsApp. These help to remind and encourage players.
• Organise or attend a litter pick - this can reinforce the message. Invite a speaker to talk about plastic impact and harm.
• Promote the campaign to the wider community using the draft Press Release text.
• Plan how you will celebrate success at the end of the season, maybe a get together or a tournament? 
• Plan ongoing promotion of reusable bottles after the campaign.
  

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS/IDEAS
Branding - button below

KSB Activity sheets - button below