Blantyre Soccer Academy started in 2010 with the aim to advance public

participation in amateur football by promoting the game through the provision of

recreational facilities. An initial membership of 120, quickly increased to 300 by 2014.

The committee recognised they had an opportunity and responsibility to educate

and influence the behaviour of our members and families around the environmental

challenges and so our Passback vision was born. Our vision was translated to the

following goals, to be delivered through our partnership with CCF.

1. CO2 Outcomes

a) Reduce carbon emissions with new laundry equipment

b) Reduce carbon emission of travel related behaviour connected to BSA

community

2. Community Outcomes

a) Recycling of sports kit and other equipment

b) Reduce carbon emissions through car sharing for training and match days

A successful application to Climate Challenge Fund in 2014 allowed BSA to embark

on a 2 year project across our membership and the local community to positively

influence the impact they have on our environment.

The last 27 months has been a journey, more reflective of a marathon than a sprint. Whilst challenges have been presented, they have largely been overcome, with great progress and successes along the way to make it all worthwhile; whilst also recognising there is still so much we can do. This feels more of a mid term report than final, but reflective of the significant progress made within our project timescales.

Against our original “Key Deliverables & Outcomes” it could be summarised as follows:

• C02 Emissions:

o Laundry equipment: “Mid Table” and progressing. Positive from “11 aside” teams who have changing facilities, but not from our younger teams who come “dressed”.

o Travel reduction of BSA: Coaches have influenced and shown the way in car sharing.

• Community Achievements

o Kit Recycling: “Premier League”. Fantastic buy in to both donation of old/used equipment and the use of recycled equipment. A real behavioural change.

o Car Sharing: “Mid table” performance. Good progress around car sharing for “training

nights”, but more to do for “Match days” where parents want to come along and support their kids and typically take their own cars.

Reflecting back, the proudest achievements may not align to the planned outcomes, but were:

• The support of our membership and their wider families to get involved with “Passback”

• The behavioural change from “everything is thrown away when it’s too small” to “can someone else benefit from these strips, football boots, trainers. It’s cultural change!

Key Outputs from the project included

Advice & Information centres

Delivered through 2 key approaches:

• Leaflets around 3 sport centres where our “bins” were located,

promoting our recycling activity.

• The Blantyre Soccer Academy “Hub” where anyone could drop in

for advice or make donations.

Training Session

• Initial launch of “Passback” with presentation to steering group &

representatives from all 9 age groups

• Attendance at monthly coaches meetings to discuss progress,

challenges and share ideas.

Events Held

3 Key events each year:

• Reamonn Gormley Memorial Soccer Festival

• “Jumpers for Goalpost” – October camp

• “Hotshots”

CCF Employees • 1 FTE as sustainable development officer

Project Participants/ Beneficiaries

• Support was provided by the Blantyre Soccer Academy

Committee & Trustees

Project Volunteers• 2 volunteers worked on a regular week to week basis

• 10 volunteers provided additional support in the weeks leading up

to each of the annual events

Schools• The annual “Jumpers for Goalposts” allowed engagement with all

the local schools, encouraging attendance and supporting

“Passback”

Key Outputs from the project included

Reamonn Gormley Festival

Tragically in 2011 Reamonn Gormley, a 19 year old student and former player with Blantyre, was murdered. In memory of Reamonn, Blantyre Soccer Academy established an annual

football festival, run over 2 days, which is the largest in Lanarkshire with in excess of 2000 kids attending. All monies raised are distributed across the charities Reamonn worked with.

With the introduction of “Passback” there was a great opportunity to allow a wider

population to see, contribute and benefit from the recycling approach.

Passback StallA great “Visual” display was created in the main indoor arena where all

kids had to register, allowing them to see the strips, football boots and

trainers available. This brought kids and parents over through curiosity.

Education Talking about the project and raising peoples awareness of the volume &

impact of simply “binning” clothes/ trainers that were simply too small.

Often people had just never thought of the impact of their actions.

Buy In

With the festival running over 2 days, many people took items on Day 1

and returned on Day 2 to donate items all because of their increased

knowledge & experience. 295 items received, 467 passed back across the

2 days.

1

2

3

“ Jumper for Goalposts” - October Football School

The October school week can be a long week for kids and parents alike. For the last 2 years, Blantyre Soccer Academy have run football camps across the week for kids from all the

local schools to come along and have fun.

This was a great opportunity to raise awareness and get the wider local community engaged with “Passback”. Kids attending the camp or parents just dropping off could not miss the rows of strips, boots and trainers on show, which naturally brought them over to ask

questions, before taking some kit and bringing replacements the next day.

Total Items handed out: 673 Clothes, 102 Boots/ Trainers

Total Items handed in: 203 Clothes, 46 Boots/ Trainers

Recycling Bins• Sourcing, purchasing & delivery of bins took time and were

costly!

• Negotiations with local council required to gain approval to

locate 2 bins at each of their 3 primary sports locations, Palace

Grounds, Bent Park and Jock Stein (in addition to outside our BSA

“Hub”.

• Bins were emptied on a regular basis when our coaches were

scheduled to attend the locations for training, Quality of items left

in bins varied significantly, especially at the beginning. Some

needed a quick wash and were ready to go out again, whilst

some were simply unsuitable for redistribution.

• Feedback from kids and parents has shown this has been a great

success, with many people donating and swapping clothes/

football boots who would never have considered this before

Laundry • 2 Commercial Laundry machines sourced and fitted within a

dedicated laundry room at our Soccer Academy “Hub”.

• Challenge with fitting due to the room being below “ground

level” so additional plumbing work required, but we got there.

• Weekly laundry completed for our 4 11aside teams from the first

week the washing machines were ready for use.

• With up to 16 full sized kits at a time, it was a tight squeeze to get

these dried naturally i.e. no tumble dryer here!!

• Our Passback clothes were all fully laundered before they were

allowed to go out for recycling.

• Oh, and don’t forget the job of scrubbing football boots too!!

Car Sharing• 19 Teams across BSA community with ~400 kids and 70 coaches.

• Depending on age, could be training once a week or training

twice a week and playing a game at the weekend.

Commitment!

• Training across Hamilton and Blantyre, though match days can

take teams across South Lanarkshire and Glasgow.

• Coaches leading the way to encourage car sharing across their

teams. Clear change of behaviour for Training nights; you now

often see 1 driver and 4 kids in a car.

• Really difficult to influence the “Match day” travel as parents/

grandparents and friends typically make their own way to

matches

Mini Bus • BSA mini bus was purchased to support the transporting of our

disability teams, normally to Glasgow, Edinburgh and Greenock.

• Minibus would take full team and coaches, typically avoiding the

need to take up to 5 cars.

• Use of Minibus was extended to include more teams, reducing

the number of cars required when traveling outside

Blantyre/Hamilton area e.g. Amateur team, Over 35’s and other

11aside teams.

• Whilst helping to reduce the CO2 emissions against multiple car

journeys, it has also helped build real team spirit within teams as

each journey is like an “Away Match”.

Reduce carbon emissions with new laundry equipment

Outcome partially delivered

Reduce carbon emissions of travel related behaviour connected to BSA community

Outcome partially delivered

Recycling of sports kits and other equipmentOutcome

met of exceeded

Reduce carbon emissions through car sharing for training and match days

Outcome partially delivered

1

4

3

2

Reduce carbon emissions with new laundry equipmentOutcome

partially

delivered

1

1.7 ton

CO2e

saved

• Use of 2 Commercial washing machines to wash kit centrally instead of

individual washing.

• Up to 80 loads of washing per month, dependent on number of games.

• All washing was air dried on a pulley.

• Lower volumes primarily down to reduced opportunity as younger age

groups arrived “dressed for training/games” due to lack of changing

facilities; focus had to subsequently be on our 11 aside teams.

Reduce carbon emissions of travel related behaviour

connected to BSA Community via Car Sharing

Outcome

partially

delivered

2

44.35 ton of

CO2e

saved

• Coaches and parents bought into the car sharing, especially for

training where parents would rarely come to spectate.

• Car sharing and minibus was used to support activities further afield like

Tinto climb, Scottish/Regional Cup games.

• Car sharing was not as successful on match days when families often

travelled to support the team, but car sharing was not always front of

mind.

Recycling of sports kits and other equipmentOutcome

met or

exceeded

3

2129 items of

clothing/boo

ts handed in

1.554 tons

CO2e saved

not going to

Landfill

48.85 tons

CO2e saved

by reusing

• BSA membership, parents and wider friends and family embraced

the concept of recycling, both via donating items and taking items.

• Donation bins set up at frequently used sports locations and BSA

“Hub” to collect items, using the commercial washing machines for

cleaning; typically 90kg per month.

• Volunteers helped with scrubbing the boots to get them “ready” for

recycling.

• Events run throughout the year were very successful, both in terms of

recycling current stock and receiving replacement items.

• Kids also changed their attitude to recycling kit when they started to

see the good quality of many of the items being recycled; it wasn’t

all the very old, “kicked” football boots and trainers they expected to

see.

• Cultural change being achieved through changing peoples

approach to how they deal with clothing and footwear which are

too small or no longer required by their kids.

Financial

Accountability for the overall project budget was a new experience and this has

certainly developed greater awareness of the importance of budget planning and

how unexpected challenges can eat into a budget. It is however a transferable skills

which can be used going forward, so the pain has been worth it.

Budget projections were included in the application and it was very pleasing to

report that the overall expenditure for the project came in slightly less than

budgeted.

However, everything did not fall into the exact planned expenditure with some areas

being more expensive, which resulted in savings having to made from other areas of

the budget. The key focus was however to recognise there was a finite budget to

work to and any overspend in one area had a detrimental effect somewhere else.

Fortunately the monthly reporting made sure there was always a good discipline

around keeping on top of the amount of money used in one area. The mechanics of

moving budget from one area to another took some getting used to, but fortunately

it didn’t happen too often and the support at CCF helped along the way.

Administration

It was important to plan ahead to ensure the administration of running the project

was kept up to date. Failing to keep on top of the various activities could quickly

lead to backlogs.

Our project had a fairly steady flow of work across the year and with the volunteer

support, it kept the weekly activity on track. It was however a real challenge when

the key events were coming up, but fortunately more volunteers could be called

upon during this short, but very busy period. Providing direction around what was

required did not cause any issues and the volunteers were happy to support in

whatever way was required.

Whilst compiling the monthly reports was time consuming, gathering all the

information and calculating savings against targets, once this was done for the first

few months, it wasn’t as big a challenge. It quickly became clearer how to record

information and how to calculate the savings. The monthly reports were a great tool

for showing where we were against targets and gave us the opportunity to update

our development officers of the monthly activity within our organisation – they got to

see the whole picture.

Went WellCould have been

better

Just didn’t go to

plan

• Car Sharing for Training evenings

• Volume of clothing received

• Redistribution of clothing

• Buy In from parents and volunteers

• Volume/Positioning of Bins

• Bins: mistaken for a litter bin by some

• Unusable clothing/ boots

• Additional washing/ cleaning required

• More drying space

• Only 11 aside teams used the laundry, so lower volumes.

• Plumbing issues due to office location

• Limited car sharing for match days

Key LearningOur project is about “cultural change”, which takes time. Our membership and families see the benefit, but it’s important to continually remind them how they can contribute, even with

small changes to their behaviour. This continual reinforcement of the message was

underestimated at the outset.

• Stakeholder Management

• New Skills Reporting,

accounts, networking, negotiating

• Training – report requirements etc

• Support from CCF e.g visiting

• Confidence when chairing large group

meetings. Allowed coaches to ”wander” oft the agenda.

Pro

jec

tP

ers

on

al

Outcome Barrier or Mistake How I managed to overcome

Reduce

carbon

emissions

with new

laundry

equipment

Initial estimation was

all 11 of our teams

would use the

laundry facility, but

only those with

adequate changing

facilities actually

could, restricting

laundry to our 11

aside teams

• We could not make up for the reduction

from 11 to 4 age groups.

• Focus was getting those teams playing 11

aside to use the laundry facility 100% of the

time.

• Going forward, every year we have a new

team moving from 7aside to 11 aside, so

the opportunity for more kits to be cleaned

via this approach increases.

Reduce

carbon

emissions of

travel

related

behaviour

Expectation that

parents/grandparen

ts would naturally

speak to each other

and share transport

to games after

explaining our

goals.

• Working with the coaches got more

parents to start car sharing during the

training sessions during the week, typically

2 nights per week, so positive impact.

• Use of Minibus to take team and coaches

to games across Saturday/ Sundays.

• What we struggled to overcome was

parents/grandparents taking cars to

“match day” games – need to consider

how they could better discuss/ car share in

future.

As we now reach the end of the project, our committee have discussed our next

steps, agreeing:

• The club will continue to support “Passback”, encouraging our membership to

continue their focus on recycling sports kit, including football boots and trainers.

• Our coaches will continue to encourage car sharing across their teams, and

identify opportunities to push forward how to increase car sharing on match days.

• Making use of the commercial washing machines will continue, with the

opportunity to increase the volume of washing completed as a further team

moves up to 11 asides.

As you see, as an academy, we are committed to continue the journey we are on,

though we are acutely aware that funding will be required to allow the focus to

continue at the same level.

• What our parents thought of “Passback”.

• Photographs of some of our events held across the years.

• Publicity Flyer used to promote “Passback” across our membership

• Our Monthly Tracker

Passback is such a good idea. It helped me out a few times when football boots were too small but payday was still too far away!!

It’s great to get our kit cleaned every week. One less thing to go wrong in the washing!

Clearing out the boys wardrobes, loads of things are like new but too small, Passback is a great way to avoid throwing them out

Great that we have the minibus to take kids to and from games to save us all taking individual cars

Don’t have to worry about colours running and my strip turning pink now. Great idea to wash it centrally.

I never really thought about what happened to the clothes I threw away before, but now I think twice and look to recycle

Car sharing has given me back a few hours a week & I know my son is safe coming & going to training

Kids grow out of football boots so quickly, the boots are like new. Exchanging them is a brilliant idea and helps out financially

Car sharing to & from training saves an hour sitting in the car with the engine running to keep warm in winter.

I’ve started to recycle clothes and boots and suddenly friends and family are now doing the same.

It’s infectious.

Sharing lifts to training saves us all running back 2-3 times a week

I would never have thought about handing in football

boots that are too small before I heard of Passback.

Great idea!

Month Washing Loads

Washing Number of TeamsCars

Kg C02eClothes

ConversionClothes

Conversion

Co2e savings Saved Rate Rate

2014 Domestic Commercial Saving From To Saving IN Weight 0.526 OUT weight 21.674

March Tinto Climb 33 19 14 263.54 0.000 0

April Ayr Tournament 50 20 30 1,920.10 0.000 0

Ayr Tournament 21 16 5 320.02 0.000 0

13 Teams 20 13 7 1233.35 0.000 0

May 51 36 15 58.39 Giffnock Tournament 10 6 4 36.15 154 179.1 94.207 6 10.5 227.577

Stirling Tournament 16 11 5 105.42 0.000 0

13 Teams 20 13 7 1850.15 0.000 0

June Holytown Tournament 18 13 5 23.53 0.000 0

Holytown Tournament 22 14 8 29.73 0.000 0

13 Teams 20 14 6 1057.2 68 72.75 38.267 90 81.45 1765.3473

July No games or Training 0 0 0 102 112.5 59.175 0

Aug 69 48 21 80.15 14 Teams 20 14 6 1328.29 49 70.9 37.293 6 9.5 205.903

Sept 86 60 26 100 14 Teams 20 13 7 1531.04 46 65.5 34.453 9 15 325.11

Cambuslang Tournament 18 8 10 39.76 0.000 0

Oct 69 48 21 80.15 14 Teams 20 12 8 2024.04 60 79.25 41.686 284 338.1 7327.9794

Nov 86 60 26 100 14 Teams 20 12 8 2271.1 81 105.95 55.730 85 118.2 2561.8668

Dec 34 24 10 39.2 14 Teams 20 13 7 885.42 95 91.2 47.971 0 0 0

0.000 0

2015 0.000 0

0.000 0

Jan 91 64 27 105 14 Teams 20 12 8 2024.04 25 30.75 16.175 30 40.5 877.797

Feb 91 64 27 105 14 Teams 20 12 8 2024.04 28 45.1 23.723 18 23.5 509.339

March 91 64 27 105 18 Teams 20 14 6 1950 66 105.8 55.651 20 27.25 590.6165

April 69 48 21 80 18 Teams 20 13 7 1707.32 380 400.2 210.505 47 87.5 1896.475

May 114 80 34 132 18 Teams 20 13 7 2846.2 99 154.8 81.425 75 128.3 2780.7742

Ayr Tournament 78 29 49 4064.3 0.000 0

Ayr Tournament 44 35 9 576.03 0.000 0

June 23 16 7 27 18 Teams 20 14 6 1462 227 539.2 283.619 377 534 11573.916

July 0 0 0 No games or Training 0 0 0 55 64.75 34.059 0 0 0

August 69 48 21 80.15 18 Teams 20 14 6 1462.44 58 75 39.450 0 0 0

September 69 48 21 80.15 18 Teams 20 15 5 1219.32 62 84.75 44.579 71 86.35 1871.5499

October 91 64 27 105 18 Teams 20 14 6 1950 143 190.8 100.361 389 466.65 10114.1721

November 91 64 27 105 18 Teams 20 15 5 1626 78 130.7 68.748 24 68.25 1479.2505

December 69 48 21 80.1 18 Teams 20 14 6 1462.3 37 40.25 21.172 12 14.25 308.8545

January 69 48 21 80.1 18 Teams 20 15 5 1626 61 61.15 32.165 29 29 628.546

February 91 64 27 105.1 19 Teams 20 15 5 1716 83 115.25 60.622 36 36.5 791.101

March 91 64 27 105 19 Teams 20 15 5 1716 72 138.35 72.772 99 139.25 3018.1045

0.000 0

Totals1514 1060 454 1752.49 402 259 143 44350.83

2129 2954 1553.8041707

2254.05

48854.2797

1.7 Ton Co2e 44.35 Ton Co2e 1.554 Ton Co2e 48.85 Ton Co2e