05/11/2024

Return of the cargo container of the Finnish Olympic and Paralympic team - Responsible recycling

The transport container of the Finnish Olympic and Paralympic teams that recently returned from Paris has now been unpacked, and the goods have been responsibly sorted for recycling, reuse and storage for future competitions. CHS, which is responsible for logistics and forwarding, has played a key role in enabling environmentally friendly and efficient transport solutions that are in line with the sustainable development goals of Finnish sports.

The recycling of the contents of the cargo container is an important part of the responsibility work of both the Olympic Committee and the Paralympic Committee, which can be seen both in the solutions made with partners and in the post-event processing.

CHS' Olympic and Paralympic freight cooperation is a great example of how carefully thought out and environmentally responsible logistics can be a valuable support for Finnish sport, its values and goals. CHS is proud to be able to influence both Finnish athletes and the environment with its own contribution, by building more sustainable solutions for the needs of competition travel and logistics.

Air cleaners for useful use in future competitions

At the Paris Olympics, most of the equipment related to physiotherapy and recovery, such as massage tables, recovery legs and CTN's XCRYO top cold therapy device, were on loan from the Finnish team. This allowed the Olympic and Paralympic team to avoid additional procurement and focus on recycling and cost efficiency.

Among other things, the air purifiers of Lifa Air, a partner of the Finnish Olympic team, are an example of equipment that will also be used in future games, such as the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics.

Picture: Snou Creative Oy, Jesse Väänänen

Olympic clothes for charity and recycling

The Olympic athletes had the opportunity to donate clothes from the Rukka Olympic Collection to a new purpose. These donated goods are reused, donated to charity or directed to Luhta's recycling partners for further processing. In this way, Finnish sport supports responsible recycling and looks for new uses for goods that would otherwise have no future.

JYSK products for donations and reuse

The products of the Finnish team's competition village, supplied by JYSK, the Finnish Paralympic team's main partner, were donated to charity and will be reused in future events.

Timo Mäkynen receiving JYSK's furniture from a cargo container.

Poni bikes for useful use

In the Olympic Village in Paris, the Finnish Olympic team had Poni bikes supplied by Tunturi, which were decorated to represent the team. These bicycles can be reused in future Olympic villages, partner activations or donated to charity. As one example of this, the five Poni bicycles used by the Finnish team in the competition villages at the Tokyo and Beijing Olympics were sold at the Finnish Flash 30 years auction gala for 22,000 euros to support children's sports.

Recycling in the Olympic village and utilization of food

The furniture offered by the competition organizers and the cardboard beds featured in the media were recycled by the competition organization. The Finnish Olympic Committee carefully plans the use of foodstuffs by experts for each Olympic Games.

For example, the Paralympic team utilized protein bars and other foodstuffs left over from the Finnish Olympic team. In addition to this, it is possible to utilize products that can be stored for other Finnish teams, e.g. in the upcoming EYOF and Universiade games.

Birdhouse returned home

At the preparation camp of the Finnish Olympic and Paralympic teams for Paris in the fall of 2023, birdhouses were built in cooperation with STARK and BirdLife Finland as part of team activities. The favorite birdhouse of the kindergarten Pääskynpesä children was chosen for the Paris Olympics, which traveled with the team to the Paris competition village in the team's living room. This small but important item also traveled safely back to Finland as part of the cargo transport.

Lauri Ijäs and Marianne Harjula hold in their hands the children's favorite birdhouse, which is returned to the Lahti Competition Village to remind visitors of the competition village of all ages of the spirit of the Northern Stars.

Read the article on the subject here.

A good cooperation is based on trust, open communication and common values. From left: Jason Kelppe, Lauri Heikkinen, Kimmo Mustonen, Lauri Ijäs, Liisa Ahlqvist-Lehkosuo, Marianne Harjula.

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