BASKETBOTTLE is an ecological initiative aiming to raise public awareness of recycling. The goal is to make recycling plastic fun and easy to remember. Every toss of a plastic bottle into a recycling waste basket is a score for the environment.
Every arena in the VTB United League this season was equipped with plastic recycling bins. Teams collected and sent the bottles to a recycling plant.
Teams collected a total of 958 bags of bottles, more than four tons of plastic.
Teams competed against one another to see who could collect the most plastic. Fans could track the competition throughout the season at the campaign’s official website, БАСКЕТБОТЛ.РФ, as well as on social media.
PARMA Perm had the most success, collecting more than 320 bags (more than one and a half tons) of plastic bottles to be recycled.
PARMA received a special prize for its efforts, a miniature version of the Sergey Belov Cup (Russian basketball’s biggest trophy) made of recycled plastic collected at League games.
PARMA general director Alexander Bashmanov received the cup from Sergei Ivanov, Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation on Issues of Environmental Activities, Environment and Transport.
Basketbottle is an excellent initiative tying together ecology and basketball, – noted Sergei Ivanov. – Throughout the season, fans and players collected plastic bottles. For many, it’s already become a habit. Over these months with the support of SIBUR, we’ve managed to recycle four tons of plastic, which is a solid result. But imagine how much we can recycle in the future if every sports fan supported us.
The BASKETBOTTLE initiative has the support of SIBUR and the Russian Federation’s Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment, falling under the Sort Right! campaign.
Partner companies in each province helped to deliver the bottles to recycling plants. EcoTechnologies was the global partner for the recycling campaign.
Recycling:
Global recycling partner EcoTechnologies recycles plastic at the Tver Factory For Secondary Polymers (Tver, pl. Gagarina, d. 1). This plant recycles plastic from every League arena with the exception of:
Perm Krai – plastic recycled by Bumatika (Ecopark Krasnokamskogo r-na, Overyatskoe GP, in the Mishkino village region).
Krasnoyarsk Krai – plastic recycled by Divnogorsky zavod polymernikh izdely (g. Divnogorsk, ul. Grimau, d. 23).
Transport:
The plastic bottles were transported by EcoTechnologies partners in each region, specificially:
EcoLine, Knopka Recycling, Mekhuboka (Saratov), Ecologia Povolzhya, as well as by various groups and volunteers.
