From Inspire Green Newsletter

Great story on what the London Olympics just accomplished over the last 2 weeks.  We applaud their efforts, and look forward to an even better performance in Brazil:

"London Olympics 2012: Going Green is the new Gold

With 10,500 Olympic athletes and 4200 Paralympic athletes competing, and estimated 11million visitors, 21,000 journalists and around 200,000 staff members, there will be a lot of mouths to feed at the games, which in turn, means tons of packaging will be required.

With the eyes of the world set on London, the London Organizing committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) made a bold move:  Zero Waste

Instead of accepting almost certainty of PET bottles filling up trash cans and Styrofoam containers littering the land, London 2012 became the first Olympic and Paralympic Games to commit to a zero-waste-to-landfill target.

“While a handful of events and venues have achieved recycling performance of up to 50%, recycling rates are generally much lower (approximately 15%) and a significant amount of material either ends up in landfill or is sent for energy recovery,” LOCOG said.

Some of the environment-friendly schemes the organizers have planned include:
At the Olympic village, carbon emissions will be cut down by 50% and the entire project will be 25% more energy-efficient compared to current building regulations.
20% of the required energy for the Olympic Village and Park will be provided by renewable energy.
20% of the construction materials and around 90% of the demolished buildings will be recycled and/or reused."

Water used at the Olympic Village will be 20$ less than average.
30 km of new routes for walking and 50 km of new cycling tracks will be built.

The Olympic Games are meant to be a grand celebration of sportsmanship and human achievement by the international community, but they also give the host nation an opportunity to display their vision and organizational skills. This time, the organizers want the London 2012 Olympics to be the greenest in history.

For more info: 

http://www.packagingdigest.com/article/522256-London_Olympics_2012_Going_green_is_the_new_gold.php
http://www.olympicgames2012london.org/london2012olympicsgoinggreen.html