The next Summer Olympics, set to take place in Tokyo, Japan are still over three years away, but Japanese Olympic committee members have already come up with a unique way to get the whole country into the spirit of the event. On February 1st, organizers of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games announced a “green” initiative that seeks to involve the entire Japanese population in a sustainability activity geared towards reusing discarded electronics to create materials used in the Olympics.
With the initiative, the Olympic committee is calling on all Japanese citizens to donate old smartphones or obsolete electronic devices, which contain small amounts of precious and rare earth metals, including platinum, gold and silver to create the thousands of Olympic medals that will be given out during the 2020 Sumer Games. Japan lacks the mineral resources necessary to produce these medals and so in 2016, the committee presented their e-waste initiative to Japanese government and business leaders. The initiative not only provides a tangible and sustainable way for Japanese citizens to be involved in the 2020 Olympics, it also helps satisfy the strict criteria for the event set up by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
With the thousands of medals that are handed out during an Olympic year, the committee is hoping to collect up to eight tons of metal (gold: 40 kg - silver: 4,920 kg - bronze: 2,944 kg), which after the production process will result in two tons of usable materials. If they reach the goal, the country will be able to produce 5,000 medals for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic medals.
"A project that allows the people of Japan to take part in creating the medals is really good," Tokyo 2020 sports director Koji Murofushi told BBC. "There's a limit on the resources of our earth, so recycling these things will make us think about the environment."
The idea of a whole nation contributing to the production of the honorary medals for which athletes often spend their entire lives training to obtain has left many past Olympians inspired.
“Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic medals will be made out of people’s thoughts and appreciation for avoiding waste,” said Japanese gymnast Kohei Uchimura. “I think there is an important message in this for future generations.”
“An Olympic medal is one of the most coveted items in existence,” two-time US Olympic gold medalist Ashton Eaton told Olympics.org. “People spend decades, often agonizing ones, working to obtain one. The life stories of so many are defined by the pursuit of these metal medallions … now, thanks to the Tokyo 2020 Medal Project, not only do the athletes inspire with their stories, but each medal itself has a story of its own … and each citizen has a chance to contribute to the story.”
“The weight of a medal around your neck is always a good weight,” Eaton added. “When an athlete at Tokyo wins a medal, the weight of it will not be from the gold, silver or bronze; it will be the weight of a nation. The awesomeness of this project makes me want to come out of retirement and compete for one.”
According to TechCrunch, Japan’s Olympic Committee will begin placing collection boxes in offices and telecommunication stores around the country beginning in April.
You can read more about the planning of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games, here.
