Grundon wastes no time sponsoring Forest Green Rovers’ U15

FOREST Green Rovers Football Club has a brand new kit sponsor supporting its youth academy.

Grundon, one of the UK’s leading waste management companies and experts in minimising the environmental and financial impacts of waste, is supporting the football club’s U15 squad.

It’s a natural fit between the Nailsworth-based football club, known as the world’s greenest football club, and Grundon which owns and operates a waste management facility at Bishop’s Cleeve, Cheltenham.

Forest Green Rovers is owned by environmental entrepreneur and head of Stroud-based green energy business Ecotricity, Dale Vince.

Grundon is working with Forest Green Rovers to help the football club achieve its ambition to recycle 100 per cent of its waste.

Currently the club diverts 95 per cent of its waste from landfill so it can be recycled or recovered.

After extracting any obvious metals and compostables, general waste in the compactor goes for energy recovery.

Mixed recyclables are taken to Grundon’s materials recovery facility at Bishops’s Cleeve and fully recycled.

Grass cuttings are taken for composting.

In 2016 Grundon will be supporting Forest Green Rovers through the introduction of food waste recycling, diverting it to an anaerobic digestion facility.

Forest Green Rovers is powered by solar energy, its organic grass pitch is mown by a robot and after four years of offering vegetarian only food to football spectators, it now offers vegan only food at the stadium.

All of this has been achieved with rising home game gate numbers.

“We visit the football club regularly and see the commitment of the coaches and the next generation of players through the club’s growing football academy,” said Anthony Foxlee-Brown, marketing communications manager from Grundon. “We share Forest Green Rovers’ ambition to build a sustainable future for people and the environment, so we are delighted to sponsor the U15 squad.”

Forest Green Rovers has a thriving youth football academy, with over 150 young players turning out weekly to train and play competitive matches.

The club is the longest serving member of the National League (the fifth tier of English football formerly known as the Football Conference) and is making strides to break into the football league for the first time in the club’s history.

Part of this ambition will be realised through its commitment to youth players. Scott Bartlett, head coach at Forest Green Rovers Youth Academy, said: “We have some really good young players of all ages, but our U15 squad have been together the longest and benefitted the most from our current youth academy set-up so it’s really good to see them supported by Grundon.”

Bartlett, a former Forest Green player himself, was appointed to lead the Academy set-up in 2011 and has revolutionised the youth system at the Nailsworth-based club by inspiring young players at the club and making it one of the strongest outside of the Football League circuit.

“The Academy relies on financial support from the youngsters themselves and their families, as well as our sponsors, to run the coaching programme, so the support of Grundon and other sponsors really helps.” added Bartlett.

In recent seasons a number of players from Bartlett’s Academy side have progressed into the first team including youngsters Louis McGrory, Aden Baldwin and Dan Martin.

Foxlee-Brown added: “We’re keen to help the club develop its own pool of talented players that will one day pull on a first team shirt for Forest Green Rovers. We’re helping the club achieve its sustainability goals through efficient waste management, so it’s fantastic to help them to become more sustainable on the pitch through developing and nurturing talented players of the future.”