107th IOC Session - LA84 Foundation

Maintenance and Waste Disposal
Cleaning staff at the
Media Villages worked
diligently to maintain
high standards of
cleanliness.
264
In order to welcome people coming from all
over the world for the Games, staff made every
effort to ensure that the venues were clean and
properly maintained. From the outset, plans for
Games operations were developed with the
utmost consideration for the environment and
included detailed programmes for reducing the
overall amount of waste produced, recycling as
much of the waste as possible, and properly
processing that which remained. For example,
more than 2,800 recycling boxes were placed in
venue locations convenient for Games personnel
and spectators.
Organization
In general, volunteers were responsible for
picking up and collecting recyclable material
and waste, and cleaning floors, while NAOC
staff carried out the cleaning of venue headquarters
and competition offices. Local maintenance
volunteers took care of the curling venue in
Karuizawa, including the cleaning of restroom
facilities. The collection and separation of waste
was mentally and physically demanding for the
volunteers, however they enthusiastically tackled
the job at hand.
The National Building Maintenance
Association was contracted to handle the maintenance
of 18 competition and non-competition
facilities where specialized skills were needed,
including the Olympic Village and the Media
Villages. In total, 964 contracted staff were on
hand for facility maintenance.
Waste Processing
In order to reduce the amount of waste produced,
spectators, Sponsors, delivery services,
and staff at shops and concession stands were
asked to keep packaging simple and to cooperate
by taking any refuse away with them. Within
the Organizing Committee, every effort was
made to reduce waste, including making doublesided
copies and finding further use for items
that had already fulfilled their primary purpose.