The inconvenient truth behind F1’s anti-plastic stance

In big business there will always be a tension between being seen to do the right thing and actually doing the right thing. Indeed, being seen to do the right thing has become a business in itself as global corporations partner up with organisations which can help them apply an environmental and socially responsible gloss.

You might argue a sport such as motor racing, largely dependent on the consumption of fossil fuels, both in terms of on-track operations and transporting personnel and equipment to venues, may as well just accept pariah status and get on with it. But that argument is not a great ‘sell’ to potential sponsors at the more investor-dependent end of the sport, particularly cash-hungry F1.

Eighteen months ago, F1 outlined a ‘sustainability strategy’ through which it aims to achieve a net zero carbon footprint. By its calculations, power unit emissions accounted for just 0.7% of F1’s total carbon output with travel and logistics contributing almost three quarters. To its credit, F1’s strategy didn’t depend solely on carbon offsetting, disparaged by environmentalists since it is essentially a displacement exercise.

Now F1 has announced a new facet of this strategy, eliminating single-use plastics from GP weekends by 2025. Well, not entirely new, since it had declared this back in March, along with the interim target of F1 staff ceasing to use single-use plastic bottles through 2021. What was presented in the run-up to Monaco was a re-announcement, with the addition of an invitation for fans to sign a pledge to reduce their own plastic use.

It’s a laudable bit of recycling, but why? Perhaps because a few days earlier a new report revealed that just 20 petrochemical companies, including three high-profile F1 partners, are responsible for manufacturing the so-called ‘virgin’ plastic polymers which make up 55% of the world’s plastic packaging waste.

Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB16B

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

The worst offender named in the Plastic Waste Makers index is Red Bull fuel and lubes partner ExxonMobil, responsible for an estimated 5.9 million metric tons of single-use plastic waste in 2019. Number five, on 4.3 million metric tons, is F1 sponsor Saudi Aramco. Mercedes co-owner Ineos is also in the top 20. The figures are estimates but the analysis has credible bodies attached. It’s published by the Australian Minderoo Foundation with partners including the energy research group Wood Mackenzie, the London School of Economics and the Stockholm Environmental Institute.

“Single-use plastics are getting the black flag in F1,” proclaims the news story on F1’s website. And yet F1 continues to operate a high-profile partnership with the world’s fifth largest producer of the raw materials that make these single-use plastics. Aramco has title sponsorship of two grands prix this year as well as pre-season testing, plus visibility on trackside signage. It also ‘presents’ the driver ‘power rankings’ published on F1’s website after each grand prix. GP Racing received no reply to a request for comment from F1.

"If there is demand for single-use plastics because some appliances simply can’t be packaged in another way, that is how you will always do your business" Toto Wolff

Mercedes’ Toto Wolff was frank and admirably transparent on the subject, saying, “I’m not sure these numbers [in the report] are right. But we have a lot of responsibility, and also Ineos takes its responsibilities. The shareholders are very well aware that they need to be part of change as well. As a team, we have taken lots of initiatives such as banning single-use plastics from the factory, our motorhome, our garages etc.

“But also, if there is demand for single-use plastics because some appliances simply can’t be packaged in another way, that is how you will always do your business.”

Certain single-use plastics simply aren’t going to go away. That may not be what you want to hear – but it’s better than a disingenuous silence, isn’t it?

Ferrari water bottles in Ferrari hospitality

Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images