To make the medals of the next Summer Olympics, the organizers would like to use metals recovered from unused smartphones
Japan is ready to amaze. For the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the organizing committee is leaving nothing to chance: the goal is to organize the most technological event ever. In addition to the robots that will welcome tourists and athletes to the Olympic village, the Japanese want to make the Olympics an environmentally sustainable event.
And to do so, they are ready to launch a campaign to collect old smartphones and recycle the metal in the devices to make more than 5000 medals to give to the athletes. The initiative will be presented in the coming days, but has already been anticipated by some people from the Japanese Olympic Committee. The goal is to be able to collect enough smartphones to be able to cover the realization of most of the Olympic medals. From the devices it is possible to recover precious metals such as gold, silver, platinum and nickel, all components of the precious medals that athletes wear on their chests.
Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the greenest in history
To encourage people to recycle their cell phones, the organizing committee is closing agreements with major Japanese retail chains to place collectors inside their stores. If the project goes ahead, there will be no need to buy precious metals, saving several million euros. In addition, the entire Olympic village will be covered by photovoltaic panels that will produce electricity with zero impact on the environment. If the organizing committee succeeds in carrying out these projects, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will be the first to be totally environmentally sustainable.