Did you know that the equivalent of 79,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools filled with waste are sent to landfill every year in the UK alone? We want to host the very first zero-waste Olympic and Paralympic Games – but we can’t do it without you.
Recycling at London 2012 is simple – just look out for these recycling icons on your food or drink packaging and match it with one of the three coloured bins.
Food and compostable packaging
Did you know that most food packaging, coffee cups and disposable knives and forks at the Games are compostable?
Anything with an orange recycling symbol or an orange mark on it can go in the orange bin, along with any food waste. It’ll then be taken away and made into compost to help plants grow and conserve our natural peat resources.
Recycling
Empty Plastic bottles and cups and empty plastic meal trays have a green recycling symbol on them. Along with paper and magazines, these should go in the green bin.
Did you know that all of the plastic bottles recycled during the Games will be recycled into new bottles within just six weeks?
Non-recyclables
Sweet wrappers, crisp packets, sugar wrappers and other non-recyclable items go in the black bin. They’re smaller as you shouldn’t need them very much! Although this waste isn’t recyclable, we won’t send it straight to landfill –. all our black bin waste will be taken away and used to create energy in the form of electricity which will help to power our homes.
Let’s all do our bit for the environment, thank you for recycling at London 2012.
If you’d like to find out more about our journey to a Zero Waste Games read our Zero Waste Vision, or if you feel inspired to host your own Zero Waste Event our Zero Waste Protocol can help you make it happen.
