Decathlon welcomes Planet Patrol as new Charity of the Year

Decathlon UK is proud to announce its partnership with Planet Patrol as its official new Charity of the Year for 2025, who will be working alongside ongoing partners, ParkPlay, to create a greater positive impact.

Planet Patrol is a registered non-profit dedicated to addressing environmental and human health issues caused by pollution, by facilitating and amplifying people-powered data to inform solutions. Through its unique anywhere, anytime, anybody approach to citizen science, it gathers critical evidence of litter and water pollution via its free app to drive change.

Founded by Lizzie Carr, an adventurer and environmentalist, who gained prominence by paddleboarding the length of England in 2016. During this expedition, Lizzie witnessed first-hand the extent of plastic pollution in waterways and began documenting it. A personal sporting endeavour directly leading to the creation of Planet Patrol and the advocacy of paddle boarding as a tool for environmental action: providing a unique vantage point for observing and collecting litter in waterways.

The partnership will see Decathlon UK and Planet Patrol working together on key environmental initiatives, the first being a national virtual mission. Kicking off on 1^st May, this mission calls upon the public to use the Planet Patrol app to log their litter collection efforts, aiming to gather 10,000 pieces across the UK by the end of October and collectively measure the positive impact. All are invited to join, with prizes and incentives on offer for those actively participating.

In addition to the virtual mission, Decathlon and Planet Patrol will be hosting a Big Paddle Clean Up event in London on 31^st May, as part of National Governing Body Paddle UK’s annual environmental campaign, combining paddleboarding with litter collection and water quality testing. Further details and event signup links to be announced soon.

To further engage the public and incentivise participation, Planet Patrol community members will receive an exclusive benefit: a 10 percent discount on selected Decathlon products. Importantly, a percentage of each sale of these designated items will be directly contributed back to Planet Patrol, creating a tangible link between consumer purchases and environmental support.

Additionally, from June through September, Decathlon will facilitate broader public support for Planet Patrol through a point-of-sale donation option. Across all 40+ UK stores, customers will be offered the opportunity to make a direct donation to Planet Patrol at the till. This nationwide initiative will provide a simple and accessible way for the wider public to contribute to Planet Patrol’s environmental efforts, raising both funds and awareness for their mission.

“For Decathlon UK, naming Planet Patrol a Charity of the Year for 2025 goes beyond a simple partnership. It’s a recognition of years of impactful collaboration. Witnessing firsthand their ability to mobilise communities with such enthusiasm to care for our waterways made it clear that deepening our support was the logical way to help more people discover the joy of our rivers and coasts as their sporting playground,” said Becky Lillico, Environmental Impact and Waste & Resource Lead at Decathlon UK.

“Over the past eight years, more than 60,000 people have joined Planet Patrol, combining environmental action with sport and using our free app to log over half a million pieces of litter data and water quality readings – a powerful demonstration of what collective action can achieve. Now, our exciting partnership with Decathlon builds on that momentum, expanding our reach and amplifying our impact. We’re aiming to record over 10,000 pieces of litter in just six months – an ambitious target that reflects Decathlon’s continued commitment to our data-driven mission and to empowering even more people to take meaningful action for the planet,” said Lizzie Carr, Founder of Planet Patrol.