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ATLANTA, USA
source: greennature.com/article635.html
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The 1996 Olympic Games host, Atlanta, Georgia, was awarded the games in 1990, also before the IOC environmental requirement went into effect… - the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) did not worked to proclaim the Atlanta events as the second green games, but concentrated instead on being known as the ‘Centennial Games’. The committee, however, took measures to be environmentally friendly;
- early in the planning for the games, ACOG developed the Olympic Environmental Support Group (OESG), a citizen advisory group of 23 people, to educate and advise ACOG on environmental issues and recommend environmentally responsible decisions on Olympic issues. The group assisted in setting environmental guidelines for venue sites, making recommendations for solid waste management and recycling, and developing ACOG's environmental policy statement;
- environmentally friendly measures taken include constructing the new Olympic stadium on the site of the parking lot for the Fulton County stadium, which will be used during the games and then torn down. The asphalt and concrete from the old parking lot and stadium will be used as filler in constructing a new parking lot. In addition, the new stadium's capacity will be reduced after the games from 85,000 seats to 45,000. The materials removed will be reused or recycled, including the Olympic track surface, which will be placed at a local university;
- ACOG has also tried to avoid unnecessary waste in construction. According to the committee's statement, many of the venues used rented equipment and furniture to avoid consuming excess resources and generating construction debris;
- ACOG has also reduced the number of outdoor trap and skeet shooting ranges at the Wolf Creek shooting venue in order to minimise the impact of lead shot deposit on nearby wetlands. ACOG also advocated the use of alternative shot in future games because of the environmental damage caused by lead shot; (2)
- in the area of transportation, ACOG encouraged the use of Atlanta's mass transit system rather than automobiles. 200 of the 2,000 buses designated for the games are powered by natural gas;
- the committee estimated that athletes and fans would have generated about 9,000 extra tons of garbage over the 30-day period of the games, not including waste from venue construction. ACOG attempted to divert about 85% of the waste away from landfills through recycling and composting. For example, horse manure from the equestrian sites has been composted for fertilizer.
These Olympics have been funded entirely through private sources, without tax dollars…- therefore, many private groups helped to foot the bill on behalf of the environment during the games. For example, Trees Atlanta has raised US$4.5 million to plant trees around the city. The Atlanta Bicycle Campaign (ABC) also took measures to help control air pollution during the games by encouraging the use of bicycles for transportation.
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