The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games medals may be made from recycled smartphones

One of the main themes for Tokyo's 2020 Olympic Games is sustainability and with that in mind the Japan Olympic planning committee is apparently thinking about using recycled consumer electronics, including "millions of discarded smartphones" to make the medals for the games.

According to a report from Nikkei, the millions of discarded smartphones and other small consumer electronics contain enough precious metals to produce all of the medals for both the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

For the 2012 London Olympics, 9.6kg of gold, 1,210kg of silver and 700kg of copper - the primary component of bronze - were used to produce medals. In comparison, the amount of precious metals recovered from discarded small consumer electronics in Japan in 2014 included 143kg of gold, 1,566kg of silver and 1,112 tons of copper.

To support the effort, the Japan Olympic planning committee is asking companies to submit ideas for electronic recycling collection programs. The country hopes that framing electronics recycling as a means of letting everyday citizens participate in the games will help to establish a better collection system and help reduce electronic waste.

Source: Nikkei

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