Environment champions appointed by Active Northumberland in bid to reduce carbon footprint at leisure centres

A member of staff from each of Active Northumberland’s sports centres has been appointed as an environmental champion – someone who keeps an eye on all things to do with the environment and helps customers and staff understand the role they can play in reducing carbon emissions and waste.

The environmental champions attended a training workshop where they explored what additional measures or behaviours could be adopted to improve the organisation’s environmental impact.

Active Northumberland has also developed an environmental strategy to ensure energy, water and material is used as efficiently as possible to minimise waste.

Mark Warnes, chief executive of Active Northumberland, said: “We are committed to ensuring environmental management is an integral part of our leisure and well-being provision.

"The champions will increase awareness of environmental issues within the company, share good practice and innovative ideas and encourage colleagues and customers to contribute positively to the protection of the environment. Being environmentally aware is everyone’s responsibility.”

A handful of environmental measures being looked at include fitting new pool covers at some sites to reduce heat loss and increasing the number of recycling stations across the centres. Solar panels have also been fitted to sport centres and ground source heat pumps have been installed at Willowburn Sports and Leisure Centre in Alnwick.

Simple measures such as switching off equipment and air conditioning during quiet times, shutting doors, switching off lights and ensuring taps or showers are not running unnecessarily are also being adopted by staff and customers.