Sustainability for the Win

Monday, December 26th, 2022

Leadership in sport event sustainability is a key component of our mission to deliver the best Ontario Parasport Games yet. We will be steadfast and innovative in our commitment to the three pillars of sustainability –environment, social and economic.

Environment Measures:

We’re striving to deliver a low-footprint, low-carbon, and low waste event through several initiatives, including locating Games accommodations as near as possible to the participant’s competitions.

We’ve used online options to significantly reduce paper use and printing, including producing an online Games program.

We will minimize waste and maximize proper disposal through signage and by adding compost bins at venues without them. We will not use plastic beverage bottles and our food suppliers will use reusable dishes and cutlery or compostable containers. We’ve also arranged for any surplus food to be delivered to a food bank.

For athlete gifts, we sourced yarn which was made from recycled water bottles and had community volunteers knit and crochet one-of-a-kind headbands.

Tree planting is being planned to help offset our carbon footprint.

Society Measures:

We proactively built an inclusive Games Organizing Committee and Games Weekend Volunteer Team.

We are taking measures to encourage accessibility and inclusion for not just athletes, but spectators too, including American Sign Language (ASL) translation, Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) transcription of speech to text, and designated viewing space for wheelchair users.

Spectators are being asked to donate non-perishable food items in lieu of any ticket sales. This will provide sustenance for clients of local food banks and ensure access to the Games for all.

Economy Measures:

We purchased goods and services from local vendors whenever we could.

From an economic development perspective, hosting these Games will boost local spending by up to $1 million.

The outpouring of support from our community ensures that our planned Games legacy initiatives are meaningful and will have a long-lasting impact in our community.