GPP Case Study- For over 40 years, the La Mercè Race (Cursa de La Mercè) has been held each September as part of Barcelona’s “La Mercè” festivities. The 10km race is organised by the City of Barcelona, and is one highlight among hundreds of free events celebrating the city and Catalan culture.
The race’s organiser, Barcelona Sports Institute (IBE), is committed to reducing the environmental impact of sports events, and it identified waste reduction as a priority in its greening plan for the La Mercè race. It developed an objective, transparent waste reduction criterion, which was easy to evaluate in the procurement process. The winning supplier can deliver t-shirts without plastic bags in reusable crates, which has reduced cardboard waste 75% and avoided 13,000 plastic bags in 2019 alone. The race t-shirts are also certified by MADE IN GREEN OEKO TEX, and are delivered using ECO vehicles