Tokyo 2020 Olympics: Medals Made By Recycling 80000 Tons of Mobile Phones And Other Electronics

Sunday, July 28, 2019, 9:53

It is beyond doubt that the human greed is the core is the primary cause behind environmental issues. Their never ending demand for more is now drowning them in pollution.

[Source: Smithsonian Magazine]

In the 1970s when Japan started to treat their e-waste differently than other wastes, but because of the high cost of labour recycling, most municipalities there opted to landfill treatment. This was not an effective solution as well and therefore, to speed up the whole process of recycling, since 2000, three main recycling laws have been enacted for households.

Cut to present, the country is now gearing up for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo. So, what's new this time? They are recycling nearly 80,000 tons of cell phones and other electronics to make medals for this grand event.

Tokyo Medal Project 2020

The Tokyo Olympics Organizing Committee started the project in April 2017, by collecting old electronics waste in a time span of two years and as a result till they have extracted enough metals from old gadgets for about 5,000 gold, silver, and bronze medals.

While we still don't know whether the ribbon, which comes along with the medal, were also recycled from the wastes or not. But, may be recycled plastic can be used to make ribbons.

The innovative approach and pr by the country for years have out them in the top slot among the five countries that are known for innovation.

According to the organisers of Tokyo 2020 Medal Project, about 80000 tons of recycled electronics and 6.21 million recycled phones has been and will be used to craft every gold, silver, and bronze medals to be awarded to athletes of the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics . About 32 kg of gold, 3500 kg of silver, and 2,200 kg of bronze have already been collected from the 80000 tons of recycled old gadgets, mentioned a Business Insider report.

Japanese telecom giant NTT DoCoMo has assisted in the project and other report shows that around 1621 municipalities across Japan have also contributed for the cause.

"We are thankful for everyone's cooperation with this Tokyo 2020 Medal Project. We hope that our project to recycle phones and small consumer electronics and our efforts to contribute and promote an environmentally friendly and sustainable society will become a legacy of the Tokyo 2020 Games," said the organisers of 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralymics.

According to a USA Today report, the design of the Olympic medals 2020 has been made by Junichi Kawanishi, an Olympic medal designer and he had already presented his designs on Wednesday, 24th July.

The design of the Olympic medals is based on the concept that 'to achieve glory, athletes have to struggle for victory every day'.