As part of the “Zero Waste” and other green measures enacted as part of the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games Sustainability Policy, hundreds of beds featured in the Opening Ceremony will be repurposed and transferred to hospitals in Tunisia, thanks to Project CURE.  The 320 luminous hospital beds featured in the London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony on Friday, July 27, are to be donated to ill-equipped and underserved hospitals in Tunisia, thanks to the support from non profit organization, Project CURE., “Rock-It Cargo,” SOS Satellite Office Services, LLC , and “Just a Bunch of Roadies” who identified the hospitals in need and directed the logistics of delivery.

London 2012 has a ‘zero to landfill’ policy. All products are required to be fully repurposed for later use. Working with English film director and Academy Award winning producer (Slumdog Millionaire), Danny Boyle and his designer Mark Tildsley, Tait Technologies designed the beds so that they could be sent to medical facilities in developing countries following the event.

Over the past several days, volunteers have worked to remove the LED pillows, duvets, batteries and wiring required for the production to prepare the beds into functioning hospital beds.  The beds will be delivered in eight 40-ft containers to the Hospital Habis Burguiba De Medenine and the Hospital de Taouine in Tunisia, where they will play a valuable role in treating patients.

Clinics in Tunisia and other parts of the world have been ravaged by man-made and natural disasters and extreme poverty. In those places, the need for new hospital beds is dire. Patients often lay two or sometimes three to a bed because there is such a shortage. In those countries, the existing beds are deplorable, with broken springs, soiled foam mattresses and no linens.