Paris Mayor, Anne Hidalgo has revealed a plan to ban single-use plastic when it holds the 2024 Olympic Games as part of its efforts to tackle the global plastic pollution crisis.

Visitors attending Olympic competition sites across the French capital will only be admitted if they adhere to the ban on plastic bottles.

Instead, Coca-Cola, a top sponsor of the Olympic Games, will distribute its products in re-usable glass bottles and more than 200 soda fountains, which will be redeployed after the games. Reusable cups will also be used for refreshments during the Olympics marathon.

Organisers of the Paris Olympics have said they want to halve the carbon footprint compared to previous Summer Games in Rio in 2016 and London in 2012.

The UN Environment Programme issued a report on 16 May saying countries could reduce plastic pollution by 80% by 2040 using existing technologies and making major policy changes.

The Association of National Olympic Committees is on a mission to ‘dreastically reduce’ the use of single use plastics at the upcoming second World Beach Games in Bali this year. Thanks to a partnership with the Bluewater Group, the Chef de Mission Seminar in April this year was hosted without any single-use plastic bottles.

ANOC is also joining forces with the NGO Marine Biodiversity Foundation to protect and restore the coral ecosystem in the Nusa Dua Beach. ANOC will be adopted coral gardens there until 2026.

With sustainability now a key pillar of ANOC’s strategic plan, the organisation has signed the Sport for Climate Action Framework and actively encourages all NOC communities to tackle climate change together.  As a result, a series of webinars in partnership with The Toolbox were carried out during the last few months, enabling National Olympic Committees to plan, deliver, and report their sustainability actions and results.