52 SUPER SERIES Saves 10,000 Plastic Water Bottles from Circulation

52 SUPER SERIES Saves 10,000 Plastic Water Bottles from Circulation in Puerto Portals © Bluewater

At the Puerto Portals 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week, recently held in Mallorca, the prominent hydration station from Bluewater – a world leader in water purification technology and solutions – served up a record-breaking total of 5000 litres of purified drinking water to competitors, staff and passers-by; representing an environmental saving of 10,000 regular-sized (500ml) plastic water bottles.

According to the United Nations Environment Program, 200kg of plastic is dumped into our oceans and seas every second. If an average plastic bottle weighs 20g, the 10,000-bottle saving represents a single second's worth of global plastic-dumping intermission. This shocking statistic highlights the overwhelming scale of the problem, and the need for more events, organisations and public bodies to follow suit.

To put these numbers into perspective: the 5000 litres of water filtered by Bluewater would fill up a total of 62 bath tubs; and if all 10,000 bottles were lined up end-to-end, they would stretch for two kilometres – longer than the average leg of a 52 SUPER SERIES windward-leeward race.

The fight against plastic is reaching our screens on a daily basis. It's now very common to open up Facebook and see a video about how irresponsibly discarded plastics are wreaking havoc in our oceans, harming the animals that live there, and in the case of micro-plastics – are ending up on our plates. The message is quite clear, and it has gained significant momentum over the past few years.

Christoph Kröger, Sustainability Officer for the 52 SUPER SERIES, commented: "This is a great statistic, and something that the 52 SUPER SERIES family should be really proud of. Good news stories like this help to underline the overall movement that we're seeing on social media, and out in the real world. I'm very happy that the message is getting through, and that we're all helping to improve things. There's still a long way to go, but sometimes you have to take stock and celebrate what you have achieved!"

The Bluewater hydration station was first installed at the opening regatta of the 52 SUPER SERIES season, in Sibenik, Croatia. Never content with the status quo, and with an ongoing desire to reduce the environmental impact of their events, the installation was the Sustainability Team's second – and very successful – attempt to introduce a water filtration system to the fleet. Just as the committed crews competing in the 52 SUPER SERIES constantly push the limits of innovation and technology to improve their team's performance, so too does the 52 SUPER SERIES team alongside their group of sustainability partners.

Talking about the good news, Kellie Covington, Partnership Manager for long-time partners 11th Hour Racing, adds: "We're impressed with the 52 SUPER SERIES' continual work to improve and grow their sustainability programme. It's great to see that the water filtration system is being well utilised by sailors and spectators – a wonderful point for education on the plastic pollution crisis in our oceans. Innovative solutions like this show that great alternatives already exist and that there's no need to be dependent on single-use plastic."

For more information about the 52 SUPER SERIES Sustainability Programme and how you can get involved, see www.52superseries.com/sustainability