Tokyo 2020 athletes will sleep on beds made from cardboard

Athletes competing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games will be getting their sleep on beds constructed from cardboard.

The 18,000 single bed frames, which will populate the residences of the Athletes Village being built beside Tokyo Bay, were displayed on Thursday by organisers — the beds won’t make it to the village until the complex is finished in June.

According to the Associated Press, the beds are the work of Japanese mattress company Airweave, and will be made of recyclable cardboard that’s reportedly stronger than a wooden frame. Takashi Kitajima, the general manager of the Athletes Village, told the news outlet the beds can withstand up to 200 kilograms (440 pounds).

Few athletes would surpass that threshold (unless you’re cheekily combining a few in one bed), so collapsed beds in the middle of the night shouldn’t be a problem, however Kitajima did tell the news outlet, “Of course, wood and cardboard would each break if you jumped on them.” 

The beds will be recycled after the games, which makes them the latest effort in Tokyo 2020’s prioritisation of sustainability in design. The Olympic medals, for one, have been crafted using thousands of old donated phones. The Athletes Village itself will see Toyota’s self-driving e-Palettes running a loop service for athletes and staff, and the victory ceremony podiums will be made from recycled plastic. 

The mattresses, AP reports, aren’t made of cardboard, but their plastic components will be recycled after the games too. They have three individual sections which can be customised to the athlete’s desired firmness. 

The Olympics kick off on July 24, followed by the Paralympics on Aug. 25 (only 8,000 of the beds will be needed for the Paralympics). With thousands of beds to make, we hope they’ve got enough pillows.