The 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo represent the first edition of the games where a real effort is being made to reduce the environmental toll of hosting such a big event.
For instance, all the winners’ medals are being made from metal extracted from recycled consumer electronics, including about 6.2 million used mobile phones. The Olympic torch is made from aluminum waste, and the podiums from recycled household and marine plastic waste. Not to mention the electricity for the Games comes from renewable sources.
In this same green vein, the athletes competing this year will sleep on bed frames made from recyclable cardboard, with mattresses formed of polyethylene materials that will be reused for plastic products after the Games. The environmentally conscious sleeping arrangements were put on display for the media for the first time on Thursday at a mock apartment in the Tokyo 2020 headquarters, though construction of residential sections of the Olympic and Paralympic village were completed in December.
When the Games are over, the apartment units will be sold privately instead of being left to decay, which is something we’ve seen in previous editions of the Olympics.
