National Post (National Edition)
Tokyo goes green on medals
The electronic trash of yesterday will be tomorrow’s most coveted treasure when the Tokyo Olympics begin next summer.
The 5,000 medals that will be awarded at the Games and Paralympics have been crafted entirely from recycled consumer devices. Organizers say they are the first sustainable medals, designed to resemble polished stones, in Olympic history. The move toward recycling has been underway for some time. Medals at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro contained recycled material, with the silver and bronze medals made from 30-per-cent recycled materials and in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics a small fraction of medals were made of recycled circuit boards.
The 2020 medals represent the contributions of Japanese citizens and are the culmination of a crowdsourcing project that began when people were asked to recycle their cellphones and small devices and appliances over two years ago. “A project that allows the people of Japan to take part in creating the medals is really good,” Koji Murofushi, the Tokyo 2020 sports director, said in 2017. “There’s a limit on the resources of our Earth.”
Tokyo organizers set out to gather as much as eight tons of metal to yield the three tons needed for the gold, silver and bronze medals and collection boxes were set up starting in April 2017. Organizers say that about 32 kg (roughly 70 pounds) of gold was salvaged from 6.2 million mobile phones, with more than 12,000 pounds of silver and bronze recovered.
Following Olympic rules, one side must bear images of Nike, the goddess of victory; the Olympic rings and the official name of the Games. (Medals for Paralympians will be revealed next month.)
The other side is more unique to each Olympics. The design was chosen from 400 entries and, according to the organizers, “The medals resemble rough stones that have been polished and which now shine, with ‘light’ and ‘brilliance’ ... The brilliance of the medals’ reflections signifies the warm glow of friendship.”
In keeping with that theme of friendship, four robotic versions of mascots Miratowa (Olympics) and Someity (Paralympics) will greet visitors at venues and shake their hands. The mascots were chosen by more than 16,000 of the country’s elementary-school children.