olympic medals recycling phones

November 12, 2019

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One year from the kick-off of the 2020 Olympics, the organizing committee unveiled in Tokyo the Olympic medals that will be awarded to the champions.

Small peculiarity, these medals are from the recycling of more than 6 million smartphones. The chosen design for the Games was designed by the Japanese Junichi Kawanishi, selected from over 400 candidates.

Tokyo 2020 Olympic medals

In gold, silver or bronze, the medals measure all 85 mm in diameter. At their thinnest point, they are 7.7 mm against 12.1 mm at the thickest point. Surprised, the gold medals are actually made of pure silver covered with 6 grams of gold plated. For the rest, the silver medals are entirely silver when the bronze medals use an alloy composed of 95% copper and 5% zinc.

Like any Olympic medal, these sport the 5 Olympic rings, in accordance with the requirements of the IOC. Also under current regulations, the design also includes the official name of the games and a representation of Nike, the Greek goddess of victory. For note, the latter must be shown in front of Panathenaic Stadium.

[Embed] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJG6duYxpMY [/ embed]

Recycled medals

In order to have enough metal to make the Tokyo 2020 Olympics medals, the organizing committee launched a call for the collection of electronic components from 2017. Obviously, the audience heard the call. Indeed, it has collected 78 895 tons of various gadgets, including more than 6 million phones. Given the popularity of basic mobile phones in Japan, these phones are not just smartphones. In all, 32 kg of gold, 3,500 kg of silver and 2,200 kg of bronze were extracted from this waste.

The totality of 5,000 medals to win for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will therefore result from recycling. But this is not the first time this has happened. For example, the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games was already using it. But the 2020 edition will have a 100% smart health connected Olympic Village.

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