5 Sustainable Features Of The Tokyo Olympic Games

"The COVID-19 crisis has served to remind humanity of the importance of a sustainable society, where the environmental, social, and economic dimensions of our world exist in harmony," The Tokyo Organizing Committee writes in a pre-games sustainability report. Here are a few of the sustainable touches you can expect to see in the weeks ahead:

This year's games will automatically be a bit lower impact thanks to a lack of spectators. Due to a rise in COVID-19 cases in Japan, both domestic and foreign fans will be banned from attending. While this certainly isn't anything to celebrate, it does mean millions of fewer car rides throughout the city and long-haul flights around the world, slashing carbon emissions.

In addition to the recycled torch (lit by torchbearers in uniforms made from recycled plastic bottles, of course), a few other Olympic mainstays will be made from repurposed materials this year: The 5,000 Olympic and Paralympic medals will be made out of e-waste collected around Japan, the podiums will be 3D-printed from recycled plastic, and the athlete's beds will be fashioned from recycled cardboard. The cardboard frame and the polyethylene mattress that sits on top of it will both be recycled following the games. In fact, the Olympic committee says that 99% of the materials used throughout the games will be reused or recycled thanks to Japan's top-notch waste-processing system.

In keeping with the Olympics' goal to be "climate positive" by 2030, the Tokyo committee is working to reduce carbon emissions across the entire event. They're using renewable energy where possible (some of which will be supplied by a solar power plant in Fukushima, the site of the 2011 earthquake) and operating a fleet of mostly electric or hybrid vehicles. Any unavoidable emissions will be offset in cooperation with Tokyo's Cap-and-Trade Program.

More than half of this year's Olympic and Paralympic venues existed before the games. The Olympic committee chose to move away from all-new construction to minimize construction costs and energy use. All the structures that were built for the games will be repurposed afterward—including the Olympic Village itself, which is run on hydrogen power from the Fukushima solar plant. Following the games, it will become Japan's first hydrogen-powered town and hopefully a model for future communities.

"United by Emotion" is the theme of this year's Olympic Games. As anticipation rises for the sure-to-be unconventional event, here's hoping the world unites around all of these eco-initiatives in the next few weeks, too (though maybe not the cardboard beds).