The Tokyo Olympics are still four years away, but organizers already have their eyes on the prize. Japanese authorities are asking citizens to dip into the countries vast “urban mine” in an attempt to produce the 2020 game medals completely from discharged smartphones and other small consumer electronics. According to a report from the Nikkei Asian Review, officials hope to bring additional awareness to the countries “e-waste” issues that led to a 2009 Japanese law being passed that made it mandatory to recycle home appliances — namely air conditioners, TVs, washing machines, personal computers, refrigerators and mobile phones. In theory, the next medal Simone Biles wins could be sitting in the pockets of thousands of Japanese people right now.
According to The Nikkei Asian Review, Japan has an estimated 16 percent of the world’s gold and 22 percent of the planet’s silver currently living inside tech all over Japan. While sourcing the materials needed for an entire Olympic’s medals might seem far-fetched, the numbers certainly add up. The London Olympic games used 9.6kg of gold, 1,210kg of silver and 700kg of copper (the primary ingredient used when making bronze) in producing medals for the 2012 games. By comparison, in 2014 people in Japan’s urban mine grew by as estimated 143kg of gold, 1,566kg of silver and 1,112 tons of copper, all sitting inside electronics nobody wants anymore. Also, there’s a dirty little secret that most viewers at home might not be aware of; gold medals aren’t really gold medals. Well, they are, partially. For instance, the 2012 London games gold medals were just 1 percent gold and 92.5 percent silver. So yeah, don’t go throwing your old iPhone against the wall just yet.
The only problem with the plan to recycle e-waste? There is already plans in place to use it. Japan already currently uses old smartphones to make new smartphones. Brazil utilized a similar plan for the Rio Games, producing some medals from materials that came from leftover mirrors, solder and X-ray plates.
(Via TechRadar)
