Recycled mobile phones to be used for Tokyo Olympic medals

AN idea originally raised last year has been turned into reality as the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Committee has announced that its medals will be made from metals obtained from the recycling of old and obsolete mobile phones.

They expect to need to produce 5,000 gold, silver and bronze medals and with a need for two tons of metal to allow this, they hope to obtain as much scrap material as possible, especially as Japan does not have large deposits of minerals and metals.

Anxious to show that it is committed to sustainable production, the committee hopes to reduce costs by collecting these old phones from offices and stores starting in April of this year.

One saving already in place is that the gold medals are no longer made from gold, but are silver which is gold plated as silver costs around €16 per troy ounce, whilst gold costs €1,100 per troy ounce.