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Planet Inspired: Paralympics, green flagThe London Olympic Games were the first to monitor greenhousegas emissions and to boast eco-sustainable buildingsLondon won the gold medal its sustainability efforts, during therecent Summer Olympic Games. The facilities facilities- from theOlympic Park to the Velodrome to the main Stadium - make wideuse of recycled materials and follow waste management guidelines.All purchases inside the Olympic Park and all packaging are 100%recyclable while the disposable products are green and made inItaly.The London Paralympic Games (parallel to the Olympics), now inprogress, are taking place, for the most part, in the same facilitiesas the Olympics, with a diverse group of athletes competing.They provide science the possibility of evaluating rehabilitationand preparation systems and testing health as well as testingmechanical devices that help to overcome handicaps and increaseperformance. In other words, the Paralympics games are anoccasion for discovery, experience, and progress in the science andtechnology fields.The flag of sustainability flies over the Paralympic facilities as it didduring the XXX Games of the modern era, starting with theindustrial area of Stratford, covering an area equal to 297 footballfields, that was completely reclaimed. The terrain contained tar, oil,solvents, lead and arsenic. The London Olympics were also the firstgames to monitor greenhouse gas emissions and have eco-

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sustainable buildings.The Olympic Park, for example, obtained the FSC (ForestStewardship Council) certificate, for the use of recycled wood in theconstruction of the buildings. Two thirds of all the wood used camefrom managed plantations. The “Velodrome” has 17 kilometers ofrecycled steel cables, equal to twice the height of Mount Everest.The project is based on the efficient use of natural ventilation, tothe extent that there was no need to install an air-conditioningsystem. For the construction of the three Olympic swimming pools,the more than 800,000 ceramic tiles needed were delivered by traindirectly inside the Olympic Park. 50 percent of all constructionmaterial was transported via water or rail.The 80,000-seat Main Stadium, that hosted the opening and closingceremonies, is the lightest building in the Olympics. The load-bearing structure of the roof was built with 2500 tons of recycledsteel pipes. The walkway that leads to West Ham station, on theother hand, is illuminated round-the-clock thanks to the pressurecreated by the people walking on it.The system was built by the British company Pavegen. It isestimated that it will be stepped on more than 12 million times,generating 12,000,000 joules. Enough to light the walkway for 8hours at full power during the evening and 16 hours at half powerduring the day. The system should also produce a surplus of 35%that will be stored in batteries.It is therefore understandable why the Games obtained the Britishenvironmental sustainability certificate Breeamand complied withthe Iso 20121 standard, that derives from the work of the BritishStandards Intitution, responsible for defining the new globalstandard for sustainable event management systems. In 2008, arepresentative of this interdisciplinary group came to Turin, Italy, tomeet with the people in charge of the scientific preparation of theproject "Events with reduced environmental impact" applied to theSalone del Gusto e Terra Madre.The purpose of the visit was to study the use of products andtechniques to reduce the impact of the large event on theecosystem as much as possible. The materials analyzed includedNovamonts Mater-Bi, used for the production of biodegradable andnaturally compostable single-use items. The results of the studywere positive and the organizers of the Olympic Games decided todistribute in their restaurants the cutlery and cups with lidsdeveloped by the three companies (in Novara, Vicenza and Naplesrespectively), flagship of Italian research in this sector. Allpurchases inside the Olympic Park and all packaging were therefore

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100%.“In London, we showed that some solutions can be valid andexported from extraordinary events such as the Olympics toorganic waste collection management systems in British towns,”stated Alberto Castellanza, head of Novamonts catering sector.In conclusion, Italy with its state of the art companies wasundoubtedly helping to carry the green flag in London.Fonte: Planet Inspiredhttp://www.facebook.com/planetinspiredhttps://twitter.com/PlanetInsp_EN