21
The Great Run Company
2025 Environmental Report
Finisher T-shirts
Material
Quantity
Percentage
Events Using This Material
This item dominates the category’s footprint. The choice of material has a significant impact on the total with recycled polyester (rPET) t-shirts at 2.994 kg CO2e per t-shirt compared to virgin Polyester at 3.227 kgCO2e per t-shirt. While the per-unit saving appears incremental, when scaled across tens of thousands of participants, this material switch generates tangible reductions without compromising product quality.
178,365
96.5% 2.2% 1.3% 100%
GNR, GN10K, Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, Scottish, South
Recycled Polyester (rPET)
4,000 2,320
Great North Swim (Main Wave)
Cotton
Beyond Series, SwimRun
Virgin Polyester
184,685
TOTAL
The “Opt-Out” Strategy: Reduction at Source
While better materials help, the most sustainable t-shirt is the one that is never produced. The “No T-shirt” opt-out option remains our single most effective reduction tool.
Total Quantity 189, 285 items (including swim hats)
The Mechanism By allowing runners to forego a finisher’s tee at the point of entry, we eliminate the entire lifecycle footprint of that garment - from manufacturing to shipping and eventual disposal.
The Impact Every 1,000 opt-outs avoids approximately 3 tonnes of CO2e Continued promotion of this option is critical to decoupling our business growth from our material footprint.
Total Emissions
564.0 tCO2e (96.8% of category)
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