The Ecospot blog

Good old Boris Johnson said a few years ago that the London 2012 Olympics would be ‘the greenest ever’. But, as always, there have been a number of sceptics who were ready to shoot this phrase down.

No doubt, there are a few elements which could have been a bit more sustainable, but there are a huge amount of things which have been done right and done well.

Here are 10 eco facts about the London 2012 Olympics that you can pull out in conversation over the next couple of weeks:

1 – The target for the reuse of materials demolished to make way for the Olympic stadium was 90%. The reuse of materials actually totalled 98%.

2 – 40% of the Olympic stadium itself is comprised of discarded/unwanted materials.

3 – 11% of the Olympic Park is powered by renewable energy – below the target, but still better than nothing.

4 – The Olympic Park itself is the largest new parkland in Europe for 150 years

5 – Part of the steel creating the structure of the Olympic Stadium used to be old gas lines.

6 – The new Velodrome is almost 100% naturally ventilated and collected rainwater is used to flush the toilets.

7 – over 500 bird boxes and 150 bat boxes are located around the Olympic Park.

8 – 300,000 wetland plants were planted in the new wetland areas in the Olympic Park – now home to 4000 newts relocated during construction works.

9 – The new river banks at the Stadium use recycled granite from King George V’s docks.

10 – Overall, the Olympic buildings use around 40% less water than equivalent buildings around the world, due to water recycling systems.

The London 2012 Olympics were always going to have a huge environmental impact, but the legacy will continue for many years to come – hopefully encouraging healthy and sustainable living for the future generations.

So – could we have been a zero carbon games? Probably not, but at least we have made a better effort than some and we think the designers and organisers should be applauded for what they got right, rather than what we did not do.