Olympics Recycled Materials Are Donated To Rio, Uganda

The "hundreds of fabric panels that adorn the outside of London's Olympic Stadium" will be recycled and go toward a project for former child soldiers in Uganda, while others to a welfare initiative in Rio de Janeiro, host of the Summer Games in '16, according to Chris Wickham of REUTERS. Games sponsor Dow Chemical, which provided the cladding, said that the majority of the 306 fabric sheets "that gave a finishing touch to the main venue" of the London Games will be re-used for youth projects in Britain, or they will be ground down and recycled into new construction materials by Manchester-based company Axion Recycling. Around 20 panels will be donated to Article 25, a U.K. charity specializing in providing shelter, to build shaded community areas; one at a training and education project in Rio and one at a project in Patongo, Uganda, that provides vocational training for former child soldiers. Article 25 Dir of Projects Robin Cross said, "It's particularly inspiring to be able to deliver a fragment of the London 2012 Games to some of the most marginalised people in the world" (REUTERS, 8/13).