This year at the Olympics sustainability has been a hot topic. With 14,500 athletes taking part and 25,000+ people flooding to Paris, hospitality businesses will be a key part of the effort to welcome them to the city and ensure they enjoy their stay.

One of the features showed off on social media has been the athlete’s beds! The Paris 2024 Olympics have cardboard beds for all the athletes which have been reused from the Tokyo 2020 games. Topping the cardboard bedframes will be mattresses partially made from recycled fishing line produced by Japanese firm, Airweave. The beds and mattresses will not be the only recycled furniture as the end tables in Olympic Village will be made from recycled badminton shuttlecocks and the chairs will be made from recycled bottle caps.

One thing that was new? Over one million pieces of bed and bath linen serviced by Accor, one of our key hospitality partners.  The linen will be brought to a central location within the Olympic compound where the team wash, fold, and distribute them out to the residents of the Athletes + Media Villages for the length of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.  The plan for the non-cardboard furniture will be to donate it after the games to a variety of locations including the French Army, the Paris Opera Ballet College, and the Tsuji Hotel School.

Why cardboard? Due to the fold to assemble nature of the beds they are easy to transport in smaller containers than traditional bedframes. Cardboard is also recyclable so once the beds are no longer serviceable, they can be recycled more efficiently than traditional bedframe materials.

What about the linen after the games? This will be used in Accor Group Hotels, hospitals, and care homes – and the duvets will be offered to athletes as a souvenir of the games.

If you want to see how the Accor Team have prepared the beds for the athletes’ arrival you can check out this video shared on their social channels.

The Paris games have been highlighted for some of the green initiatives they have taken forth to reduce the impact of the international competition.

They have reduced the additional infrastructure built to accommodate the games with just two sites built for accommodation – the Olympic Village for athletes and Media Village for journalists and press. There have also been two new facilities built in the Paris area, an aquatic center and a climbing venue with additional facilities for offsite competition including a judging tower for the surfing competition set to take place in Tahiti.

The games are also aiming to have zero food waste with initiatives including

• Sourcing 80% of ingredients locally
• 50-60% reduction in animal products
• Doubling the plant based food options

The games are also working towards 100% renewable electricity, utilising wind and solar power.