London Olympic waste to be moved by river

LONDON (Reuters) - The transport of waste from London's 2012 Olympic Park will be partly switched from road to river after the opening of a 20 million pound lock, organisers said on Thursday.

More than 8 km of waterways wend their way in and around the former industrial site in east London, and Olympic organisers, keen to meet sustainable targets, will use the rivers to move recyclable waste.

Organisers, who put sustainability at the heart of the 2012 bid, have set themselves a target of transporting 50 percent of materials, by weight, by rail or water.

At its peak, up to 1,400 tonnes of waste per month will be transported by water.

"I hope that the lock will help make a real difference, removing lorries from local roads and promoting water transport as a viable option to contractors ..," said British Waterways Director London, Mark Bensted in a statement.

Barges will be loaded on a new jetty opposite the Aquatics Centre and travel through the newly opened Three Mills Lock, taking timber, cardboard, plastics and packaging eastwards down the Thames to a recycling centre in Essex.

Contractors are also being encouraged to ferry construction materials to the 500-acre Olympic site.

About 30,000 tonnes of silt, gravel and rubble as well as tyres, shopping trolleys, timber and at least one motor car, were removed in the big clean-up funded by the public corporation British Waterways, and various government departments.

The Lea Valley waterways mainly run north to south through the heart of the Olympic Park, ultimately connecting with the Thames, the main river through London.

(Reporting by Avril Ormsby)