Famously the Olympics are a very unsustainable event, building huge infrastructure and venues for the sporting events, construction of massive “villages” to house the athletes and the massive amounts of pollution created by masses of sporting supporter gathering in one city to celebrate the event.
Tokyo 2020 is taking a stand and has taken big steps towards being a pioneer for a carbon neutral event. To reduce the environmental impact as much as possible and ensure that the legacy of the event is positive rather than leaving a negative effect after the festivities are over.
Whilst the sporting kit worn by athletes from individual countries cannot be controlled. The uniforms worn by torch bearers, volunteers and other staff involved in the games will be made by sustainable methods. These include; recycled Coca-Cola bottles, recycled polyester and plant derived materials.
Not technically a uniform but what will be worn by the best athletes are medals. The medals given out during the Olympic and Paralympic games will be made from recycled phone parts. They will be produced by extracting gold, silver and bronze elements of old phones, melting them and casting them to make the medals.
With regards to the creation of infrastructure for the games, the resource management team has taken great attention to avoiding using too much natural resource like timber. The timer used will only be taken from sustainable sources from across Japan to avoid deforestation. The timber will then be returned or reused to as to avoid one time use of resources and create a legacy that will benefit the country.
There will also be an effort to utilise existing venues so as to rejuvenate existing facilities and to prevent wasting materials when there is a suitable location already.
There has been a strong movement towards the use of renewable energies for the operation of the Games. It has been announced that all Olympic venues including the Athlete village will be powered using 100% renewable electricity, such as solar, biomass and hydropower. Tokyo 2020 is aiming to achieve being carbon neutral.
To reduce the amount of fresh mains water used during the games there will be a heavy use of filtration facilities in the venue and utilisation of rainwater and recycled water. Meaning that the water will be reused as much as possible to avoid excessive wastage.
Japanese car manufacturer Toyota has been announced as a sponsor for the 2020 games. They have developed an accessible people mover vehicle to transport spectators and athletes who have reduced mobility around the sporting venues.
Toyota will provide a wide range of zero-emission vehicles for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 , in line with Japan’s carbon reduction goals. Including the Mirai car which emits only water as a by-product.
This is all only a part of Tokyo 2020’s vision to be a sustainable event but everything they are doing aims to contribute to the UN’s 17 sustainable development goals.
The changes that have been made from the last games to this with regards to sustainability will set the benchmark for sustainability. Hopefully future hosts will take inspiration from Tokyo 2020 and will aim to reach this level and surpass it.
