There was a heartbreaking, albeit unsurprising, article in The Independent this weekend about the collapse of Russia’s Zero Waste Pledge for the Sochi Olympics.  You may remember that part of Russia’s initial bid for the Olympics back in 2007 was predicated on an outlandish pledge to leave behind ‘an incredible environmental legacy for future generations‘?  Well, it has succeeded.  Although not in the way it set out to.

The original plan was as follows:

According to the plan Sochi says there will be a 100 per cent treatment of the solid and biological waste products in the city of Sochi which should significantly improve the environment of the resort and promote the introduction of modern “green” technologies across Russia.

Alarm bells started ringing in 2010, when it was estimated that there would eventually be five million tonnes of construction waste to deal with.