London 2012 publish Sustainable Sourcing Code

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) took another significant step in its ambition to ensure the Games are staged in a truly sustainable way by publishing the first online edition of its Sustainable Sourcing Code. Predominantly aimed at internal buyers, suppliers (both current and prospective) and licensees, the code will enable the organisation to make informed decisions with regards to environmental, social and ethical issues, when procuring the products and services needed for the Games and meet the ambitions laid out in the wider London 2012 Sustainability Plan, launched last year. The code will require LOCOG and its suppliers to identify, source and use environmentally sound and socially responsible practices based around four basic principles:

Responsible Sourcing – ensuring goods and services are sourced and produced under a set of internationally acceptable environmental, social and ethical guidelines and standards; Use of Secondary Materials – maximising the use of materials with recycled content, minimising packaging and designing products that can either be reused or recycled; Minimising Embodied Impacts – maximising resource and energy efficiency in the manufacturing and supply process in order to minimise environmental impacts; Healthy Materials – ensuring nonpolluting / non‐toxic materials and substances are used.

Put simply, LOCOG’s approach to sourcing sustainable products can be based on the following five key questions:

Where does it come from?
Who made it?
What is it made of?
What is it wrapped in?
What will happen to it after the Games?

London 2012 CEO, Paul Deighton commented: 'London 2012 represents a fantastic opportunity to deliver a world class sporting event, but in a sustainable way. Our ambition is to set new sustainability benchmarks for the way large‐scale events are staged, the Sustainable Sourcing Code is a key part of this. '