Tokyo Olympic Medals To Be Made From Mobile Phones

Are you Japanese and planning to change mobile phones?  You could opt to donate your device to be recycled into medals for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

According to the Japan Times, the organizing committee is working with NTT Docomo and the Japan Environmental Sanitation Center to collect old mobile devices and small appliances from the public starting April. Some 2,400 NTT Docomo stores nationwide will have collection boxes with more to be set up at public offices. The organizers hope to gather up to 8 tons of metal to make 5,000 medals for both Games. Collection will stop when the target has been reached, Japan Times wrote.

The BBC reported that Japan's Olympic organizing committee members had first proposed the idea to government officials and companies last year. Traditionally, Olympic host cities obtain metals to produce the gold, silver and bronze medals from mining firms but the the project aims to promote sustainability and reduce costs as Japan has very little mineral resources of its own.

Hidemasa Nakamura, the chief financial officer of the 2020 Games were quoted by the BBC as saying that the donation of phones and appliances is on a voluntary basis, giving the public a chance to participate the Games in a novel, different way. Japan's three-time Olympic gold medalist Kohei Uchimura was quoted as saying that the medals will be "made out of people's thoughts and appreciation for avoiding waste."

The BBC article explained how smartphones and other consumer electronics contain small amounts of precious and rare earth metals such as platinum, gold, silver and nickel.  The various metals can be separated using chemical processes. 

CNN meanwhile wrote that the idea to use recycled materials to make Olympic medals is not new. 30 percent of the silver and bronze medals at the Rio 2016 were made from recycled materials, it reported.

Tags

Tokyo, olympic, medal, recycling, smartphone, e-waste, Kohei Uchimura, Ashton Eaton

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