Tokyo 2020: the Olympic medals will be made with recycled tech material

The medals of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games will be produced thanks to materials from smartphone recycling and other electronic components. The Japanese participated in the initiative by donating as well five million smartphones. According to the organizers of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the collection of obsolete mobile phones and electronic devices will be completed by the end of March, from which the materials to manufacture all the Olympic and Paralympic medals will be obtained.

The project known as the “Tokyo 2020 Medal Project” was launched in 2017 to promote environmental sustainability and involved the collection of used smartphones and other gadgets, donated by their previous owners. The donations were very substantial and already last October all the necessary bronze had been collected, almost 94 percent of the gold needed and 85 percent of the silver needed. Given the amount of objects donated in recent months, the organizers said they are already certain that they can also find all the gold and silver they need. The harvest will end at the end of March; the design project for the medals will be presented this summer.