All the medals of Tokyo Olympic 2020 are made entirely of recycled metals.
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| Credit: Tokyo 2020 |
There are many firsts in the delayed 2020 Olympics that are currently being held in Tokyo. One such first is that the medals are made entirely of recycled metals.
Although the previous Olympics (Rio, 2016) used 30% of recycled silver to make the silver medals, this is the first time that all medals are made entirely from recycled metals.
These remarkable medals took two years to make! Metals were obtained from unwanted electronic devices. It took 78,985 tons of donated devices, including approximately 6.21 million mobile phones, to make these medals!
While it is commendable that these medals are being made from recycled metals, it also reveals the large amount of electronic waste that is being generated in the current world.
It is astounding that the devices used to salvage the metal for the Olympic medals make up only 3% of the total electronic waste generated in Japan.
With many elements used in making electronic devices becoming more and more depleted, this revelation about the staggering amount of electronic waste being generated is truly alarming!
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