Japan kick starts mobile recycling drive for 2020 Olympic medals
Wednesday, February 8, 2017 - 10:33:40
Last year it was announced that the team behind Japan’s Olympic and Paralympic Games would be setting out to create all of the medals given out at the events in 2020 using metals harvested from recycled smartphones. Now the process of actually collecting the old mobiles in preparation has begun in earnest, according to The Japan Times.
It was confirmed last week that mobile network provider, NTT Docomo, will be working together with the country’s environment ministry in order to raise awareness about the cause, with a major promotional drive set to kick start in April.
The goal is to gather up enough unwanted mobile phones to supply around eight tonnes of precious materials, including gold and silver, so that the medals can be manufactured without having to rely on freshly mined metals.
Japanese gymnast and former Olympic medal winner, Kohei Uchimura, explained that this recycling project was not only important from the point of view of efficiency and cost-effectiveness, but would also send a strong message about the benefits of sustainable mobile ownership to millions of people around the world.
Thousands of shops throughout Japan will be kitted out with collection bins into which outdated devices can be deposited. A total of 5,000 medals need to be created in time for the games in 2020, meaning that there is a long way to go before the ambitious goals have been met.
Furthermore, the organisers have confirmed that they will not be stopping the collection process until they have achieved what they have set out in their mission statement.
This is not the first time that metals gleaned from recycled sources have been used in the production of Olympic medals. However, with the focus being on old consumer electronics, Japan is setting a new precedent which other nations will surely follow.
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