Green pledge from leisure centre operator

It said on Friday (January 26) that it will phase out plastic straws and cutlery out of its centres, and will launch a scheme to reduce the number of single-use coffee cups customers use.

Ivan Horsfall-Turner, managing director of Freedom Leisure said the commitment is 'not easy or cost efficient' but that the company 'can no longer shirk the responsibility and more importantly, we don’t want to'.

He said: "As a responsible, high-quality, community-focussed and environmentally aware organisation we want to play our part in tackling this important issue.

“We removed plastic cups at water dispensers from all our gyms a while ago, and instigated a refillable only option which has worked well, receiving praise from users. Going forward we are also looking to drastically reduce the number of single use coffee cups; working with our customers to encourage the use of multi-use crockery and refillable travel cups.

“All such incentives inevitably come at a price to an organisation, both financial and labour, but we are committed to them and sincerely hope that our customers will support this move.”

The leisure centre opertaor said that customers will start to notice changes in the coming months and that there will be a continued effort 'to investigate ways to make other improvements wherever possible'.

Freedom Leisure runs seven leisure centres in the city on behalf of Brighton and Hove City Council, including: the Prince Regent Swimming Complex, the King Alfred Leisure Centre, Withdean Sports Complex, St Luke's Swimming Pool, Moulsecoomb Community Leisure Centre, Portslade Sports Centre and the Stanely Deason Leisure Centre.