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6.21 Million Phones Used To Create Tokyo 2020 Olympics Medals

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Fans of the Olympics and recycling enthusiasts will be happy to know that the Tokyo 2020 Olympics organizing committee has unveiled the event’s medals that are made from recycled electronics.

The organizing committee announced back in February 2017 that they would be creating medals from recycled electronics and began collecting donations from the public in Japan between April 2017 and March 2019.

This activity resulted in the collection of 80,000 tons of old electronics, among them 6.21 million phones, a good number of cameras, gaming consoles and laptops. After the initial processing stage of classification and dismantling, contractors extracted 32kgs of Gold, 3.5kgs of silver and 2200kgs of bronze from the recycled electronics.

These natural extracts were then used in the making of the 5000 medals that will be used to award winners of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The medals, designed by Junichi Kawanishi, who was the winner of the Tokyo 2020 medal design competition resemble polished rough stones and reflect various patterns of light.

According to the organizing committee, the medals’ reflections not just symbolize the energy of the athletes but also signify the “warm glow of friendship”.

This is not the first time an Olympics organizing committee has opted to use recycled electronics in the making of the medals, back in 2010, the Vancouver 2010 Olympics and Paralympic Winter games were made from recycled old TVs, computers and keyboards.

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