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The Tokyo 2020 Olympic medals are made from recycled smartphones

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After successfully collecting enough unused technological gadgets, the organizing committee of the next Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020, extracted the necessary amount of precious metals to create recycled medals for the summer games in Japan.

With exactly one year to go until the start of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, the organizing committee revealed its innovative medal-making project. These were designed by Junichi Kawanishi, the winner of a competition involving more than 400 professional designers and design students.

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Here are the new medals of Tokyo 2020 seen from the front... / © IOC

The medals all have a diameter of 85 mm, measuring 7.7 mm in the thinnest part and 12.1 mm in the thickest part. Gold medals use more than six grams of plating on pure silver, silver medals are made of pure silver, while for bronze medals an alloy of red brass consisting of 95% copper and 5% zinc was used.

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...and from behind. What do you think? / © IOC

The regulations of the International Olympic Committee required the design to include the iconic symbol of the five rings, the official name of the games and the Greek goddess of victory in front of the Panathenaic Stadium. Two years ago, a campaign was launched to collect electronic devices in order to extrapolate the necessary metals. A total of 78,895 tons of gadgets was received, including 6.21 million smartphones. This resulted in the extraction of 32 kg of gold, 3,500 kg of silver and 2,200 kg of bronze.

What do you think about this initiative from the organizing committee?

Via: The Verge

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  • Simone Costi 21
    Simone Costi Aug 14, 2019 Link to comment

    I prefer not to give my old smartphones to companies such as the one named in this article. Instead, I have a drawer in my parents' room in which I store them. I call it "The Smartphones Cemetery".