Guidance on participating in a sustainable way
Since 2011, Ourea Events (the organisers of the Cape Wrath Ultra®) has been a member of 1% For The Planet. This means that each year we donate 1% of our entire turnover to support organisations involvement in protecting the environment such as Fix the Fells, and the John Muir Trust.
In 2020 we took our environmental commitment one step further by publishing our sustainability policy - which details how we plan to recognise, quantify, reduce and mitigate the environmental impact of our events. Overall, we seek to be carbon neutral through a program of reducing, re-using, recycling, and as a last resort, offsetting.
We are excited to be working towards a more sustainable future by changing and adapting how we organise and deliver our events, but we are now asking you to do your part by accepting and embracing these changes.
Below we share with you some key actions that you can undertake to help support our efforts on sustainability when participating in the Cape Wrath Ultra®:
Balance your travel
Travel is typically the largest source of emissions from live events. If you can travel to the event in a sustainable way - via car sharing or public transport - then please consider these options.
We are working with the charity Ecolibrium to tackle these travel impacts.
To help us reduce carbon emissions, you can balance your emissions through Ecolibrium's climate solutions programmes:
Trees+ - which supports tree planting, rainforest protection and ecosystem regeneration.
Energy Revolution - which invests in projects that create clean renewable energy.
New for 2023, when you sign up for the event, you are given the option to offset your own travel emissions using the carbon calculator on SiEntries, and we would encourage you to use this!
Reduce waste and avoid landfill
Please avoid single use wherever possible and do not forget your plate/bowl, mug and cutlery for the overnight camps!
We aim to reuse rather than recycle but we will have clearly marked recycling bins located around the overnight camps. Please read the signs and use the bins correctly. If any of our recycling bins are contaminated with the wrong waste, then it all gets sent to landfill.
Food Waste
In some cases, a large part of our waste stream is food waste, and we are always aiming to minimise this as much as possible.
All our servings are standard portions, please take a standard portion and come back if you are still hungry. This really does help us to reduce our food waste.
Have a positive impact
As event organisers we are always working hard to engage with local communities to ensure we have a positive impact.
You can do your part by engaging with the local communities in a positive way; be friendly, say Hi and if you have time, you can explain the incredible challenge you are undertaking.
Read the guidance notes on ecology to understand the importance of the environment you are travelling through.
Carbon Accounting
We undertake an annual carbon account of the business, so you may see this in action whilst you are at the event.
This means we are recording many elements of our event activities which create carbon emissions such as event diesel, water usage, waste and contractor mileage. The team will be recording this information whilst at the event, all of the data gets collected and inputted into our annual carbon account.
We work with Our Carbon who then calculate our annual carbon emissions.
In 2021, we operated as a carbon neutral business. We are currently undertaking our 2022 carbon account and our 2022 environmental impact report will be released later this year.
The stunning Scottish landscapes along the Cape Wrath Ultra route that we seek to protect ©No Limits Photography