ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

Preparations for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, which will take place in Russia, have already started. Oleg Popov of Cristanval explains how the cleaning contracts will be awarded shortly.

In 2014 the Russian Federation will be host the XXII Winter Olympic Games. They will take place over 36 days within two clusters, a coastal cluster in Sochi and a mountain cluster in Krasnaya Polyana.

What does this mean for the Russian cleaning industry? It means a great deal. The successful cleaning companies will serve 11 sports facilities, four mountain ski resorts, two training centres, three media centres, two Olympic villages and many smaller arenas. Between five and six million people (athletes, officials, press, etc) are expected to attend. In total 2,000,000 square metres, including 500,000 square metres of internal area, will have to be cleaned. A significant challenge indeed.

It’s expected that cleaning companies will bring 750,000 people to all Olympic facilities. Around 1,200 cleaners will use 200 units of cleaning equipment. Waste management will be one of the most challenging aspects of the operation - due to the high number of people attending events and the high concentration of facilities in Sochi. Some events will be attended by 100,000 people in fact.

Statistics show the volume of Olympic waste increases games by games. For example 900 tons of rubbish were removed in Nagano in 1998, 1,250 tons in Turin in 2006 and 4,080 tons in Vancouver in 2010. The forecast for the Sochi Games is 4,500 tons!

It is important to note that during the Olympic Games all cleaning personnel will be 'depersonalised'. This means the operators will be without badges, which is a requirement of the International Olympic Committee. Only personnel from the main sponsor companies – Coca-Cola, McDonald’s – will be given badges.

The cleaning companies will be chosen on the basis of tenders. Definitely they should be experienced enough to meet the high requirements. Inexperienced cleaning businesses could certainly not cope with the demands of this contract, since the time given over to cleaning at many sports facilities will be very limited. Often there will be just 45-60 minutes' break between sport events to make a stadium clean again.

In accordance with the organisers' plan, applications from those cleaning companies that would like to serve the Olympic Games will be accepted until this August. By April 2012 contracts with the main cleaning providers should be concluded.

In addition, there are three test ski competitions - complete with catering and cleaning - scheduled for January 2012. As the big day approaches the number of test competitions will increase, so the winning cleaning companies will have a chance to improve their skills at the Olympic facilities well before the Games start.