S.L. so far reasonably 'green' for 2002

SYDNEY — Salt Lake Games organizers have Sydney's environmental legacy to live up to come 2002.

But Olav Myrholt thinks they're up to the task.

"I'm following closely the Games preparations in Salt Lake, and I see nothing in the context of environment which is making Salt Lake City do any efforts less or worse than Sydney," Myrholt said. "I find it's highly appropriate, what they're doing. They're right on track."

Environmentalists may not all be happy with SLOC's environmental program outcome because they may have high expectations.

"Environmental groups — everybody wants to raise the bar," Myrholt said. "But the result is always bound to be a kind of a negotiation between the possible and the impossible." Myrholt is a member of the International Olympic Committee's environmental commission and one of several people who spoke with the media Tuesday about the Sydney Games' environmental program. A Norwegian, Myrholt helped plan the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Games.

Along with sports and culture, the environment is one of the IOC's three Olympic "pillars" — areas the Olympic committee emphasizes in connection with the Games.

Among other things, Sydney's environmental program includes:

• Passive solar design at Olympic venues, including the sprawling Main Press Center that uses translucent roofing to reduce the need for artificial lighting.

• Solar power at many venues, including the Olympic Village housing athletes.

• Disposable cups, plates and cutlery made from materials that can be recycled or composted, including cutlery made from cornstarch.

• Recycling containers at all Olympic venues that separate plastic, glass, paper and aluminum.

• Venue landscaping that minimizes the need for water.

• A tree-planting program through which 2 million trees of several varieties were planted at several hundred sites.

• Commitment by corporate sponsors on environmental initiatives including McDonald's and Coca-Cola, which are experimenting at the Games with hydrocarbon refigeration rather than the usual hydrofluorocarbon refrigeration.

• And last but not least, worms — lots of worms — in worm farms at various Games venues where they feast on leftover food and help turn it into compost.