Tokyo Olympics to feature medals made of recycled phones – CNET

Sayonara, old iPhone. Konnichiwa, Olympic medal.

Tokyo 2020, the organizing committee for the Japanese city’s Olympics Games, said on Wednesday it would make the medals for the quadrennial sporting event from metal reclaimed from old smartphones. The effort is part of the Olympic agenda, which says sustainability should be part of all aspects of the Games.

The folks running the Tokyo Games have set ambitious targets for the gold, silver and bronze medals that will be awarded to the victorious athletes. They’re hoping to extract eight tons of metal from old electronic gear that will be refined into two tons, enough to produce the 5,000 medals needed for both the Olympic and Paralympic games.

The committee plans to set up 2,400 collection boxes at mobile phone stores throughout the country in order to collect the devices needed.

Tokyo won the Olympics after the country suffered a devastating tsunami in 2011. The baton was passed to the Japanese capital at the close of last year’s Rio de Janeiro games, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dressed as Mario from the Nintendo series of video games to welcome the world.

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