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The World Championships in Athletics, which was held in
Helsinki in August, made history in other ways than sport.
An environmental programme drawn up for sporting events of
this type for the first time was visible practically everywhere:
from recyclable games structures to biodegradable eating utensils.
"It was time that the International Association of Athletics
Federations included an environmental programme in the championships.
It was to be expected that the initiative would come from
Finland, according to a certain member of the international
media, crystallizing the favourable reception for the programme,"
says Salla Koivusalo, the manager of the ECOmass project.
The aim of the project was to reduce the amount of carbon
dioxide emissions and landfill-site waste and to look for
eco-efficient operating methods. Attempts were made to take
into consideration environmental perspectives at the world
championships in all the arrangements. The entire games organization
was trained during the summer for the environmental programme.
Green Helsinki blooms
The programme was put into effect in many ways. "The
spectators were led into coming to the championships by public
transport or walking. With tickets for the events you got
a discount on public transport and all the accredited participants
of some 10,000 were allowed to move around on public transport
free of charge," says Koivusalo.
"The transport routes throughout the championships were
planned as efficiently as possible to reduce carbon dioxide
emissions. Car drivers were given instruction in ecological
driving."
"The competition restaurants used biodegradable disposable
eating utensils. There were also volunteers on hand to give
advice on waste classification. Plastic drinks bottles were
collected for re-use."
The TV inside the stadium broadcast videoclips showing Walk
in the Green Helsinki pedestrian paths. Recyclable and re-usable
materials were used in the construction materials. Even the
carpet was reusable, whereas generally they are disposable."
To what extent, then, did the programme have an effect on
the environment? Information about that will be obtained from
factors that could be measured during the championships, such
the consumption of electricity and water and the amount of
waste and biowaste generated. Also information about what
of the programme remained in the spectators' minds was collected
by means of questionnaires.
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What is the ECOmass project?
Eco-efficient Mass Event, which is a LIFE Environment
development project coordinated by the Helsinki University
of Technology Lifelong Learning Institute Dipoli and
funded by the EU Commission, is developing and testing
a handbook for eco-efficient mass events. The handbook
will be drawn up on the basis of the implementation
of and practical work in the world championships. The
aim is that the handbook will be applied to future IAAF
competitions and on a wide scale at other sporting competitions
and major events. The project, started at the beginning
of 2004, will end in July 2006.
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www.dipoli.tkk.fi/ecomass
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