Is RIO 2016 REALLY TURNING THE GAMES GREEN?

Sustainability has been a key theme throughout the organising of the Games to ensure that one of the biggest legacies is also the cleanest.

"To guarantee the delivery of games with a reduced carbon footprint is one of the main points of Rio. Earlier this year, the Organising Committee received the ISO 20121 international standard certificate to recognise meeting the sustainability criteria for events organisation.

One of the ways Rio 2016 has reduced the environmental impact of the Games was to offer sustainably sourced meat and offer vegetarian options in the dining hall. The organising committee has also reduced the volume of material, energy and even workforce needed to put on the Olympics.

The committee  did an edition of the Games with fewer vehicles, generators, trucks and so on.

Whether the medal being awarded at the Rio 2016 Olympics Games in Brazil this month is gold, silver or bronze, the ribbon those medals are hung from will come from plastics, with half the content coming from recycled bottles.

Innovative plastics use is being highlighted in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, with applications ranging from sports equipment to artificial grass and event venues, along with ribbons for medals and sculptures made from recycled bottles.

Plastics bottles also are part of efforts to highlight pollution, including plastic waste, in Guanabara Bay, where Olympic sailing competitions will take place. An effort to start cleaning the bay was launched after the 2014 FIFA World Cup, when the Dutch government created the Clean Urban Delta Initiative.

One of the projects was the Plastic Madonna sculpture, made from 5,000 plastic bottles collected in Rio de Janeiro. It was coordinated by Dutch social enterprise Dopper with the support of local organizations and government, and built by Brazilian artist Eric Fuly, based on the design by Dutch artist Peter Smith.

Plastic Madonna was unveiled in Rio's Botafogo Beach and now is in one of the city's public parks, with the intent to bring awareness to plastic pollution.

The Plastic Madonna is a reference to the fact that we are literally feeding our future generation with plastic. Plastic is in the oceans, fish misunderstand plastic for seaweed and eat it. We eat the fish and the plastic enters our food chain.

About 143 pounds of recycled plastic bottles were also used to build the Olympic Rings sculpture on Copacabana Beach.

Dopper will also be responsible for building the Paralympic Games symbol using recycled plastic bottles, replacing the Olympic Rings sculpture.

Cutting the carbon footprint : THE FIRST OLYMPIC GAMES IN SOUTH AMERICA WILL  BE ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY, AS RIO 2016 AND WORLDWIDE TOP PARTNER DOW WORK TO MITIGATE AND CREATE CLIMATE BENEFITS FOR 2 MILLION TONNES OF GAMES EMISSIONS.

Dow Chemical Co.'s micro-foaming technology for packaging is part of an initiative to cut 4.4 billion pounds of carbon dioxide impact at the Summer Games.

Dow Chemical Co. used Dow's low carbon technologies to deliver this mitigation. It's similar to a carbon credit, but it is actually a climate benefit that Dow company is delivering to the Organizing Committee to mitigate the carbon consumed by the games.

The micro-foaming solution is made with new production methods that lead to higher productivity and improvement in the extrusion process of films, using 15 to 25 percent less raw material. The technology is also reducing the cost of packaging production, one of the main concerns for most of the people working in the packaging chain.

Adoption of polyurethane-based insulation panels, to reduce energy consumption in construction, is another plastic-related action that will help Dow deliver carbon footprint mitigation.

Two other initiatives in the agricultural market, and biomass use to generate energy in some of Dow's units in Brazil, also are helping to balance the greenhouse gas emissions from the Games.

Plastics for venues, performance

Rio's field hockey arena Deodoro Olympic Park was revamped with synthetic turf made with linear low density polyethylene and polyurethane technologies, supplied by Dow and German athletic surface producer Polytan STI.

Maracanã, one of the largest soccer stadiums in the world and the host of the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies, had Dow plastics applied to drainage and irrigation pipes below its natural grass.

The stadium was upgraded for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, when recycled PET bottles were used to make 6,773 seats in the 78,838 seat stadium.

Another five venues of the Olympic Games holding shooting, fencing, basketball, hockey, handball and swimming competitions had seats, armrests, bolts and other items made from nylon.

 Rio had assured of the 'Greenest Olympics ever'. Although there are stories that Rio has not fulfilled all it's promises it made while winning Olympic bid but still Rio has kept environment in mind to a great extent at the time of planning, designing and implementing.

References :

www.olympic.org

http://www.plasticsnews.com/