Tech Update: Reusable packaging helps stadium-sized sports events hit sustainability goals

As the Paris Olympics rev up, spectators around the world are eager to watch participants raise the bar. Alongside the next-level opening festivities and hotly anticipated competitive match-ups, the organizers of the 2024 Games hope to set new standards in sustainability: There’s the ambitious Seine cleanup project, new beds for athletes made of recycled fishnets and plans to cut the amount of single-use plastic in half.
Massive events like the Olympics often come with a proportionally huge environmental price tag. The 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro released 4.5 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and more than 2.7 million tons of CO2 were emitted during the Tokyo Games in 2021. Experts predict that this year’s edition will be the hottest Olympics ever — which means added pressure to crank up the air conditioning to keep athletes safe, a necessity that further expands the event’s environmental footprint.
One way to compensate for unavoidable carbon expenditures (such as, say, intensive cooling systems) is to ramp up efforts in other areas. For instance, organizers are planning to serve 13 million meals at the Paris Games; if those meals come in single-use packaging, says Jacquie Hutchings, chief revenue officer of Canadian reusable food packaging company Friendlier, they’ll generate 754,000 kg of waste. That amounts to 2.2 million kilograms of greenhouse gas emissions.
Hutchings acknowledges that the Olympics are reducing packaging by 50 per cent, but notes that replacing all containers with reusable alternatives would eliminate as much as 95 per cent of waste.
Companies such as hers are providing options to facilitate litterless lunches (and breakfasts, and dinners and snacks) at big-ticket events. In May, during the 2024 Canadian Olympic and Paralympic swimming trials, Friendlier kicked off a partnership with Intuitive AI and the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre. The system is simple: when visitors buy food at the centre, it comes in reusable containers; they can then scan a QR code and provide their email address, and once they return the packaging, they’ll receive an e-transfer of $0.50. All containers are cleaned and sanitized at Friendlier’s facilities, then redeployed for future orders.
Hutchings says that Friendlier is hoping to increase its impact by partnering with larger venues and events. The company is already collaborating with Compass Group Canada, which provides hospitality and food services across Canada. With Toronto and Vancouver gearing up to host FIFA World Cup 2026 tournaments, making it simpler for stadiums (and sports fans) to adopt more sustainable practices is top of mind.
“It’s a no-brainer for us,” says Hutchings. “You have people consuming a product in the same place they bought it. It doesn’t make sense to serve that product in something that will end up in a landfill.”
Rare-earth elements are an essential component in many high-tech devices, but extracting these materials comes with a heavy environmental impact. To tackle this issue, Kingston, Ont.–based Cyclic Materials is building a circular supply chair for rare-earth elements — a necessary step in the right direction, and one that has been recognized by Microsoft, which recently invested in the Canadian venture. The support comes from Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund, which is geared toward developing new climate tech, and is aligned with the big tech company’s goal of achieving zero waste by 2030.
Kelowna, B.C.–based RainStick Shower, whose closed-loop shower cleans and reuses water, has raised $2.6 million in new financing. This funding will enable RainStick to scale up production with the aim of making its cleantech device more widely available throughout Canada and the U.S.
As Toronto continues to recover from last week’s torrential storms, many are focused on the future of flood prevention in the city. According to a new KPMG study, 92 per cent of Canadian corporate leaders are concerned that extreme weather events have become the new norm and will continue to affect their businesses. Natural disasters had a negative impact on profitability for 56 per cent of those surveyed, while 49 per cent of respondents said their costs increased significantly as a result of supply-chain disruptions and other weather-related issues.
London, Ont.–based medtech company Deep Breathe has been chosen to participate in Orbit Health, an initiative funded by the Canadian Space Agency. The program is driven by MEDTEQ+, a nonprofit accelerator for tech in the health sector, which is allocating $1.8 million in funding to six ventures to promote the development of innovative healthcare solutions that can be used in space — and in remote or hard-to-access locations on earth. Deep Breathe will be exploring applications of its AI-powered portable pulmonary ultrasound tech.
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