Athletes in Paris are running on crushed sea shells as part of a green mission
Olympics purple track
Paris is hosting one of the most sustainable Olympics this year, and the purple running tracks are a part of the green mission. Empty sea shells from oysters, clams, scallops, and mussels have been used to prepare the tracks for the games. Around 10 million tonnes of these shells globally make it to landfills or sea every year. Italian fishing cooperative Nieddittas has been collecting these shells since 2021 for the Olympics.
The purple running tracks are made with fine powder derived from sea shells that have come from the Mediterranean. Nieddittas, and engineers at another company,Mondo, collaborated to work on the track design, which was perfected over a period of three years. Mondo has been responsible for the design of the last 12 Olympic running tracks.
"Three hundred world records have been broken on Mondo athletics tracks since 1972 and it is hoped many more will fall at the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Paris 2024," the official Paris Olympics website reads.
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Pros of the purple tracks at Olympics
As per BBC, the Paris track is two per cent faster than the one made for Tokyo 2020. The Tokyo track was red and made of rubber, while half of the new purple track being used in Paris has been made from recycled materials. However, the colour purple is not because of mussels or clams. Their shells are made of calcium carbonate, a resilient material used to semi-reinforce rubber and flooring. So instead of mining new carbonate materials, the company chose to grind the shells.
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According to Mondo's website, the decision to use these shells to make these tracks offsetthe emissions by the equivalent of "a Euro 4 diesel car travelling 60,000 km".
"This project is not only scientifically suggestive but also a forward-looking example of long-term economic commitment to sustainability and territories, with transparency, responsibility, and a real will to make a difference," Mondo added.