It’s usually used to make more electronics.
Advertisement
Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike brought the Olympic flag to Japan from Brazil on Wednesday and called for all parties to work together to host a successful Summer Games in 2020.
Both coins depict cherry blossoms and ipe amarelo, flowers recognized as symbols of Japan and Brazil on the obverse side and the emblem of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on the reverse side.
It is estimated that 16 percent of the world’s gold and 22 percent on the world’s silver is now sitting inside gadgets in Japan. According to a report from Nikkei, the organizers of the 2020 games are thinking about using recycled electronics to forge the next summer games’ Olympic gold, silver, and bronze medals.
Britain won 27 golds on their way to a second-placed finish in the medal table, their best haul in over 100 years, and now BBC Radio 5live are reporting that the government have confirmed the increase, which was agreed to by the previous administration, will still be awarded. This collection of e-waste is sometimes referred to as an “urban mine”.
Moreover, Japan’s recycled precious metals are also being reused to create new electronic devices, silver being the most in demand. By comparison, the London 2012 Olympics used 9.6 kilograms of gold, 1,210 kilograms of silver and 700 kilograms of copper to produce all of its medals. In 2014 alone, the massive heap of old cell phones and other electronics was estimated to contain 315 pounds of gold, 3,450 pounds of silver and 2,450 pounds of copper.
“A collection system should be created by the private sector, and central and local governments should be in charge of publicising such private services”, said Takeshi Kuroda, president of ReNet Japan.
Advertisement
Even with the implementation of an efficient e-waste collection system, the proposal for recycled metals in the Olympic medals may still fall short, as much of the metals now being recovered from e-waste is already put back into circulation as new electronics, especially silver, which “faces a tight supply-demand balance” in Japan.
