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Every set of regs insists in bold letters on their use, our environmental officer brings them up at board meetings with monotonous regularity, and then we all go home and forget all about them. I am, of course, talking about environmental mats. Why do we do this, and what could be the worst case scenario of our continued apathy toward the enforcement of their use?

I have today added an extract from the FIM Environmental Code Handbook about environmental mats here. Surely, the very fact that the World governing body has laid down a minimum specification for these items no longer gives us the excuse of ignorance, not that this would ever have been valid.

So apart from the fact that very many riders do not know what actually constitutes an environmental mat, why do many continue to use an old piece of carpet, cardboard, or not even bother at all? Why should they, when they know that the warning about possibly losing their ride will not be enforced? Why don't clubs enforce the rule? Why should they?

With entries dwindling in the current economic climate, it is completely understandable that organisers are loathe to do anything to alienate them from competitors. Indeed, a perfectly understandable argument from many organisers is "Why should we enforce this at club level when it is openly flouted at National level".  While the example should come from the top, this will not help any of us if the worst case happens.

So what is the worst case? This is purely my own opinion, but I think it is only a matter of time before an overly keen Environmental Officer from a local Council attends an event, sees something he does not like, and decides to take matters further. Were this officer to insist on a survey to assess any damage caused to the soil (which I believe he could do), the cost would be scary beyond belief. A few years ago a company I worked for was caught discharging a small amount of cleaning chemical into the surface water drains. The local Council's Environmental Officer became involved and, when he noticed some discolouration of the soil within the curtilage of the site, insisted on a full investigation. This involved an independent company drilling bore holes every few feet, taking soil samples at various depths, and sending them to the lab for analysis. The cost of this was astronomical. Despite the fact that no soil contamination was found the company had to bear the full cost of the survey, the onus being on them to prove that no such contamination had taken place.  I don't know if it would be the club or the landowner who would be liable for the cost of such an action, but in either case it is hard to imagine that any further motorsport would take place at the venue. I know this all sounds like scaremongering, but I honestly believe that at some point this could happen; not necessarily in our Centre, but the repercussions of such an action could be felt nation-wide.

How can we reduce, or even negate, the risk of this happening? Simply by adhering to the guidelines already laid down by the governing body of our sport. 

More out of interest than anything else, I approached a local company for a cost to produce a mat to the specification in the FIM handbook. The cost, based on a quantity of 375 units would be £20+vat per mat. I can already hear the protests of "Yet another expense for the rider", but which of the options is more preferable; a one-off cost less than £25 or the possible loss of a venue to take part in the sport we love?

Probably the lead should come from the UK governing body, but we all know this is unlikely to happen. What would be wrong with the Eastern Centre taking a lead in this? Perhaps we could affirm our commitment to the environment by refusing to allow ACU Events Ltd. to pressure wash their hospitality unit on unprotected ground when they arrive for the Maxis ACU round at Lyng. ;-)

Richard Sillett has posted an interesting response to this here