For the first time in the history of the Olympics, the medals at the Tokyo Olympics are made out of recycled electrical goods, mostly smartphones, laptops.
Two years before the start of the Tokyo Olympics, the organizing committee launched the ‘Tokyo Medal Project’. The main objective of the project was to recycle old electronic gadgets such as smartphones and laptops. These gadgets were later used to produce the medals.
Process
And in just a span of 18 months, the campaign received 47,488 tons of equipment. Also, more than 5 million mobile phones were handed in at stores run by local cell phone provider NTT. The committee revealed the data after few months, According to data 28.4 kg of gold (93.7% of the targeted 30.3 kg). And 3,500 kg of silver (85.4% of the targeted 4,100 kg) was collected from donations.
Up to 90% of Japanese cities, towns, and villages participated in the donation camps. It was a great effort by the Japanese government to engage the national government, municipalities, companies, schools, and other local communities.
The project was launched in April 2017. At the start, there were just about 600 municipalities. But by the end of the project in March 2019, that figure had risen to more than 1,600. The first step was collecting the used devices. Following a process of dismantling, extracting, and refining by contractors. The recycled material was then molded into Junichi Kawnishi’s design concept. A design that beat out 400 other entries in a competition held by Tokyo 2020.
“We developed a waste management movement for the medal project. With the cooperation of many stakeholders, from the Japanese government to local communities,” Toshio Kamakura, director of Renet Japan Group, told DW.
“The campaign called on the public to donate obsolete electronic devices for the project. We are grateful for everyone’s cooperation,” said Toyko 2020 spokesperson Hitomi Kamizawa.