Tokyo Olympics Smartphone Medals

With the Tokyo 2020 Olympics recently putting their logo to public design and vote, the Olympic organisers are now considering mining Japan's vast repositories of e-waste for millions of discarded smartphones and computers in order to collect enough gold, silver and bronze to manufacture it's Olympic medals.

As publicised on the business news site Nikkei Asian Review, there have been recent debates and proposals to recycle Japan's electronic waste into gold, silver and bronze (Olympic Medals), in an attempt to make the games somewhat more sustainable. So far, meetings have taken place between Olympics officials and representatives from the government and a few inside-industry personnel.

Organised by nonprofit Genki Net for Creating a Sustainable Society, the society has recently put forward figures that illustrate how the country's e-waste contains enough precious metals to create all the medals for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. As widely noted, Japan has '...acquired 143 kilograms of gold, 1,566 kilograms of silver and 1,112 tons of copper from its discarded electronics in 2014. By comparison, the London 2012 Olympics used 9.6 kilograms of gold, 1,210 kilograms of silver and 700 kilograms of copper to produce all of its medals.' The numbers add up. Olympic Games' preparation has more than begun over in Japan.

Discover more online at Nikkei Asian Review.

Photography credit : Nikkei Asian Review