Tokyo 2020: Innovative bedding for Paralympic and Olympic Villages

The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Tokyo 2020) has unveiled the special bedding furniture and materials that will be provided at the Olympic and Paralympic Villages during the Tokyo 2020 Games, including beds made from high-resistance lightweight cardboard and mattresses specifically designed to improve sleeping quality and comfort. 

Around 8,000 beds for the Paralympic Village will be provided by Airweave inc., an official Tokyo 2020 partner company.

The design of the mattress leverages the latest innovations in bed surface technology. It comprises three distinct sections supporting the upper, middle and lower body, and the hardness of each section can be customised to suit each athlete’s body shape. The pillows have an indentation in the centre, providing good support for the neck and head regardless of whether athletes are sleeping on their backs or on their sides.

All of the bed frames will be made from high resistance cardboard, which will be able to support weights of up to 200kg. They will be recycled into paper products after the Games, with the mattress components being recycled into new plastic products. This will be the first time in Olympic and Paralympic history that all Villages' beds and bedding are made almost entirely from renewable materials.

Tokyo 2020 has established as its guiding sustainability principle “Be better, together - For the planet and the people” and aims to minimise resource waste and ecosystem depletion in its use of materials. It has set a target of 99 per cent of items and goods procured for the Games being reused or recycled afterwards. This project represents another positive demonstration of ways in which a more sustainable society can be realised using resources more efficiently.