40 million engaged at record speed!
On March 1, 2024, the Norwegian Retailers' Environment Fund and the Norwegian Football Association launched the call for applications campaign More Football - Less Plastic, where we at the Norwegian Retailers' Environment Fund allocate 80 million NOK to football facilities over a two-year period.
Published: 20.June, 2024 Last updated: 05.December, 2025
Offensive Football Clubs
-We are pleasantly surprised that clubs across the country have emptied the fund in this year's call for applications at record speed. This will result in significantly reduced emissions of rubber granulate both locally and nationally already this year. We are committed to achieving concrete and measurable environmental results with the plastic bag funds, and we have truly succeeded here, thanks to a close and good collaboration with the NFF and offensive football clubs, says Cecilie Lind, CEO of the Norwegian Retailers' Environment Fund.
Facilitating
Klæbu IL is one of 157 football clubs that applied and was granted funds from the Norwegian Retailers' Environment Fund to reduce their emissions of rubber granulate from their pitches by 95%. From the time they submitted the application until the shovel was in the ground, it took less than 2 months! Watch the film here:
- Next year we will add another 40 million NOK to the pool along with the knowledge and experiences from this year. This will result in even more football and even less plastic in nature, says Lind.
Physical barriers are the most effective, and also the most expensive measure to reduce the loss of rubber granulate from artificial turf pitches, estimated at around 1500 tonnes per year. Not all applications were approved in this round, but in January 2025 the application portal will open for the second round, and another 40 million NOK from the plastic bag money will be available.
