Tokyo Olympics Organisers Urge Public To Donate Smartphones, Old Electronics For Forging 5000 Medals
The 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games organisers aim to collect eight tonnes of metal during the electronic gadget donation drive. Out of this, they expect to collect at least 40 kg of gold, 2,920 kg of silver and 2,994 kg of bronze, all thanks to old gadgets
The next Olympics just became a whole lot special. On Wednesday, 2020 Tokyo Olympics Organisers asked the public to donate old smartphones and electronic gadgets for a novel cause -- they¡¯ll use metal extracted from the gadgets to make Olympics medals! The organisers made the original announcement in November but now gave further details about how the process will be implemented.
Tokyo 2020 Olympics officials are doing this to not only make the Paralympics and Summer Olympics more environment friendly, but also rein in spiralling costs of the biggest sporting event on earth.
The 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games organisers aim to collect eight tonnes of metal in total during the electronic gadget donation drive. Out of this, they expect to collect at least 40 kg of gold, 2,920 kg of silver and 2,994 kg of bronze, all thanks to outdated mobile phones, kitchen and household appliances donated by people from all over Japan.
Consumers will be able to discard and donate e-waste such as smartphones, digital cameras, laptops, TVs and games units at special collection boxes which will be installed in more than 2,000 stores Olympic sponsor NTT Docomo -- Japanese telco. Across Japan, people will be able to donate gadgets in collection boxes from April 2017 onwards.
After collecting all that metal from electronic gadgets, the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games organisers will forge around 5,000 medals in total for both the Summer and Special Olympics.
This isn¡¯t the first time something like this is attempted, though. About 30% of silver and bronze medals awarded at last year¡¯s Rio 2016 Olympic Games were made from recycled metal. But this is the first time ever that 100% of all the Olympic medals will be made from recycled metal.
What a great idea to get rid of electronic waste, save the planet, and make the public at large an integral part of the Olympic Games!
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