The target to recycle 70% of the waste arising from London 2012 venues was missed, a report published by the events organisers the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) has revealed.
Legacy of Change, London 2012 Post-Games Sustainability Report published on Friday (December 14) details the progress toward the organisers sustainability targets. These include the 70% recycling, reuse and composting rate, an aim to send zero waste to landfill and to reuse or recycle 90% of the material arising from the installation and decommissioning of the venues.
But the report shows that despite initially appearing to significantly outperform the 70% target with an overall recycling, reuse and composting rate of 82%, the final figure actually fell short of the target.
This comes despite the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012 last month claiming it was ‘confident’ that the targets would be met (see letsrecycle.com story).
LOCOG concluded that further analysis of the destinations of its waste was necessary as it claimed that the bulk of commercial waste is contaminated when it is commingled with waste from other producers at an intermediary site such as a transfer station or Materials Recovery Facility and that efficiencies of treatment facilities make it difficult to predict the true amount that is recycled.
It therefore tracked waste sent to contractor SITA UKs materials recycling facility (MRF) in Barking, to which 93% of the waste collected from Games venues was processed, logging the end processes to which the material was sent and finding that the true figure was around 62%.
However, for its separate recycling and reuse target covering installation and decommissioning of Games venues, LOCOG exceeded its 90% target, recycling a total of 54% of the material generated, an estimated 32,963 tonnes, as well as reusing 45%, around 27,220 tonnes, for a combined reuse and recycling rate of 99%.
Landfill
The report also details LOCOGs success in meeting its landfill diversion targets in the run up to the Games, estimating that it diverted around 92% of operational waste from landfill during the commissioning of Games venues in 2010, rising to 96% in 2011.
Meanwhile, between January and June 2012 the landfill diversion rate rose again, to 99.7%, with LOCOG meeting its target to divert 100% of operational waste from landfill during the Games period.
The report also provides details of the running of the colour-coded recycling bin system which was in operation across all Olympic Venues, and concludes that despite some contamination occurring in each waste stream, the system was largely successful.
It states: Although contamination did occur in every stream, we believe arrangements worked relatively well for the bins in key areas such as the public realm, athlete dining areas and workforce break areas. Most individuals seemed to take notice and attempted to deposit items in the right bin although they did not always make the right decision. We felt the quality of streaming in these areas was better than expected.”
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Indeed, the organisers conclude that they would not have met the 70% recycling target had visitors been given the option of two bins, rather than three in which to dispose of waste, and state that consistent and simple messaging that includes the motivation for recycling as well as information about how to do so correctly is key to increasing public engagement.
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