Paris 2024 Olympic infrastructure is heading for a "second life"

What will happen to sports infrastructure in France after the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics? The organizers have a plan for this.

For decades, the Olympic Games have been dogged by questions about the huge waste (sometimes entire stadiums are left empty or even left to rot) after the event is over. Paris 2024 organizers have promised to do things differently by using temporary venues to cut down on construction.

Paris 2024 Olympic infrastructure is heading for a "second life" (Photo: insidethegames)

In particular, the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee has also thought about making effective use of post-event equipment from tennis balls to sand for beach volleyball events.

"Before we order anything, we think about how it will be used in the future," Paris 2024 sustainability director Georgina Grenon told AFP in an interview.

“We had a list of about six million things, six million objects. At the beginning of the procurement process, every time we issued a tender, the Organising Committee included a clause asking suppliers to propose a reuse solution for their products. We did this so that suppliers could understand that we were not just looking to buy an object. Then they would propose to us the best option,” said Georgina Grenon.

Many of the facilities and much of the equipment used for the Paris 2024 Olympics will be redeployed immediately for the Paralympics, which will take place from August 28 to September 8. They will be moved to new homes after the Paralympics are over.

The superfine sand used for the beach volleyball court in front of the Eiffel Tower, one of the iconic Olympic sites, has been promised to a Paris-area club. The Paris 2024 logo will be scrubbed clean so it can be used elsewhere.

600,000 pieces of office furniture leased from French company Lyreco will be taken back by the company and used to launch a new and used furniture business. More than 14,000 mattresses made from recycled plastic used in the Olympic Village will be donated to the French military, while their cardboard bases will be recycled.

Tennis balls used at Roland-Garros, including those used by gold medalist Novak Djokovic, will be donated to French sports clubs. Other sports equipment used in javelin and shot put will also be disposed of in a similar manner.

Organisers have confirmed plans to reuse 90 per cent of the six million pieces of equipment, said Georgina Grenon. Part of that plan includes giving fans the chance to buy souvenirs, including flags used in the medal ceremony or torches made for the relay before the Games.

Two swimming pools, a climbing wall and a skate park will also be moved, mostly to the deprived suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis in northeastern Paris. Scaffolding rented from temporary stands will be dismantled and reused.

Source: https://bvhttdl.gov.vn/ha-tang-co-so-cua-olympic-paris-2024-dang-huong-den-cuoc-song-thu-hai-20240816093740401.htm