This is how it works: LBC tournament is plastic-free

The idea : A tournament without plastic – or at least without plastic bottles and all the plastic packaging around bars and other halfway food. Implemented at four events as part of the Germany-wide Ladies Business Cup, which takes place in the Munich GC, G&CC Seddiner See, GC Hubbelrath and GC St. Leon-Rot.

How does it work?

• In order to avoid plastic bottles, we equip all participants with a high-quality thermos bottle at the start, which costs about 20 euros (500 ml) with printing. To keep costs down we looked for a sponsor and found Tourism Ireland.
• The bottles are filled in the run-up to the tournament – of course not from other plastic – but from large glass bottles or barrels. This undoubtedly takes work, but works well with both sparkling and still water.
• In order to ensure the drinking supply on the round, we use the stationary water stations of the clubs, of which there was one for every three holes in the Munich GC, for example, and otherwise provide our own filling stations made of large glass containers. This also works smoothly.
• Round catering without wrapped bars? Fruit doesn’t need packaging, tastes good and is also healthy. With apples and bananas you are perfectly equipped for every golf tournament.
• In addition, trail mix and small sweets from 3-kilogram large containers are filled into small snack bags made of recycled paper (with gloves, of course, due to Corona). This also means additional effort, but on top of that it still looks nice.

Communication: It is important to communicate the fact that there are no bottles on the course. Most golfers are not used to this in a tournament. The note that the filling stations must be used is therefore essential and should be repeated again at the start.

The result: At the first Ladies Business Cup in the Munich GC, with 54 participants, we saved almost 300 bottles compared to the previous year because it was very hot on both days. In addition, around 150 packed bars per round were saved. If you extrapolate this to four events, you end up with around 1200 bottles and around 600 bar packages . A whole lot. And: After the participants with their thermos bottles have the chance to generally do without plastic bottles, the effect will hopefully be even greater.

The conclusion: More effort and more communication than in the normal tournament process with plenty of plastic is undoubtedly necessary – but the enthusiasm of the participants is great and the effect is visible. So: it’s worth it.