SINGAPORE - The OCBC Cycle 2019 is the first event here to earn the Singapore Environment Council's (SEC) Eco Event certification, OCBC announced on Wednesday (June 19).

The green label recognises events in Singapore that take steps to use less and green more, benchmarked against a set of stringent environment compliance guidelines.

OCBC Bank had committed to plant one tree for every 50 cyclists who registered for the May 10-12 OCBC Cycle, and a total of 140 trees were planted on June 1 at Dairy Farm Nature Park.

OCBC Bank's head of group brand and communications Koh Ching Ching said the decision to reduce the carbon footprint at this year's OCBC Cycle stems from the organisation's commitment to be environmentally responsible.

She added: "It was encouraging to receive approval and positive feedback from many participants; they welcomed the move to drop single-use plastics and understood the importance of sustainability.

"We hope that more event organisers and the community will step forward to do their part to create change for a greener world. Every act, no matter how small, counts towards making an impact."

At this year's OCBC Cycle, single-use plastics were eliminated from the event pack collection. Some of the significant waste-reduction initiatives included the replacement of paper flyers in event packs with large informaion boards at the event as well as on the OCBC Cycle website. Medals were also packed in compostable tracing paper instead of bubble wrap, and recycling bins were placed at strategic locations for the collection of banana peels, which were distributed for composting.

SEC executive director Jen Teo said: "We are encouraged to see a large sporting event such as OCBC Cycle taking the step of undergoing a thorough assessment of its environmental practices.

"SEC is looking forward to working closely with the team in further reducing its carbon footprint at future events. We hope other event owners will adopt a similar approach towards environmental sustainability."