athletes will sleep on cardboard beds at the tokyo 2020 olympics

tokyo 2020 has unveiled the beds athletes will sleep in at the next olympic and paralympic games as part of its plans to be more environmentally friendly. they include cardboard beds made from high-resistance cardboard and mattresses formed of polyethene materials that can be recycled.

18,000 beds are needed for the olympic village and 8,000 beds for the paralympic village. they will be provided by japanese mattress company airweave inc., an official tokyo 2020 partner company which has designed blue and white duvets featuring a square pattern and the game’s logos.

images courtesy of airweave
cover image © tokyo 2020

the beds comprise three distinct sections supporting the upper, middle and lower body, and the hardness of each section can be customised to suit each athlete’s body shape. the pillows have an indentation in the centre, providing good support for the neck and head regardless of whether athletes are sleeping on their backs or on their sides.

all of the bed frames will be made from high resistance cardboard, which will be able to support weights of up to 200kg, more than any athlete weighed at the 2016 olympics in rio. after the games, the beds will be recycled into paper products and the mattress components into new plastic products.

tokyo 2020 aims to minimise resource waste in its use of materials during the olympics and has set a target of 99% of items and goods procured for the games being reused or recycled afterwards. as part of plans to be more environmentally friendly, medals for the games are being made entirely from recycled consumer devices, the olympic torch is made from aluminium waste, podiums from recycled household and marine plastic waste, and electricity powered by renewable sources.

‘this will be the first time in olympic and paralympic history that all villages’ beds and bedding are made almost entirely from renewable materialsm,’ tokyo 2020 explains. ‘this project represents another positive demonstration of ways in which a more sustainable society can be realised using resources more efficiently.’

project info

company: airweave
event: 2020 summer olympics