[GreenYes] Olympic results in Waste News 4/1/02

[Gary Liss <gary@garyliss.com>]

Apologies for Cross-Postings

Olympic results
By: Jim Johnson
Salt Lake City --
April 01, 2002

Olympians and their fans sure know how to take care of their trash.

Final numbers are in for the Herculean effort to make sure as much waste as 
possible generated at the recently completed Winter Games in Salt Lake City 
stayed out of landfills.

Some 1,436 tons of materials generated by participants and spectators at 
the Olympics were received at a specially commissioned material recycling 
facility between Jan. 28 and Feb. 25, according to Laynee Jones, manager of 
waste and recycling for the Salt Lake Organizing Committee.

That included 129 tons of cardboard, 88 tons of plastic, 4 tons of 
aluminum, and 10 tons of other metal, all of which was recycled.

The vast majority of the waste - 1,170 tons - was sent to the Olympics 
composting site. Over the next year or so, the compostable waste will be 
converted into reusable material.

Just 51 tons of material generated at the Olympics ended up going to 
landfills.

The Olympics utilized a two-bin approach in an attempt to separate and 
capture as much waste as possible from spectators. One bin was for 
recyclables and the other was for regular trash.

Olympic organizers will not know the percentage of rejected material from 
composting until the compost is screened in about a year, Jones said. That 
material also will go to a landfill.

The Olympics organizers set out to recycle at least 85 percent of the waste 
generated at the Games and provided financial incentives for its recycling 
contractor, Green Valley Recycle and Compost, if the final totals are 
higher. Based on current numbers, the recycling rate is above 95 percent.
****************************************
From: 
http://www.wastenews.com/arcshow.html?id=02040100901&query1=Olympics&maxfile 
s=25&start=0
For more info: Contact Waste News reporter Jim Johnson at (330) 865-6171 or 
jpjohnson@crain.com
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