General description of the initiative
Beach Volley-Ball Baden, which has been taking place for 18 years, has established itself as a top international sporting event. The second largest beach volleyball tournament in Austria can look forward to around 20,000 enthusiastic visitors every year, who can experience beach volleyball up close in front of the beautiful backdrop of the Baden lido.

The organisers have set resource saving planning and reduction in energy consumption at the core of their initiative. From the use of wooden advertisement banners to the sourcing of local and seasonal food and drink that come from the fair trade or organic growing, the organisers have shown the importance of targeting each resource individually in order to have a general coherent approach towards the organisation of sustainable sport events.

“Eco-social aspects and the preservation of resources and the environment are to be integrated in such a way that we provide opportunities for meeting the needs of future generations.” – Dominik GSCHIEGL (Organiser and Promoter of Baden Beach Volley-Ball)

Results
Since the first event in 2005, the event has managed to produce reusable sustainable bottles for all players, staff, etc. thus, allowing the event to save over 8000 PET bottles. The organisers also decided to contract local companies to manage the general public and the VIP catering services, and to engage them to sign the sustainable guidelines regarding the use of organic food and drinks. Similarly, all external service providers are local companies:  80% of the budget is therefore alocated to small to medium companies located in a radius of 30km from the venue.