Future winners of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will stop biting their medals to see if they are gold as organizers of the event announced that medals will now be made out of recycled metals from old cell phones.
This move from Japan hopes to create a sense of sustainability and openness from the public to "participate" in the games. It also allows the country to save costs as they cut from the original $35 billion budget to $21 billion late last year.
But maybe, winners will still get to bite their medals as Japan promised to come up with 40 kg of gold, 2,920 kg of silver and 2,994 kg of bronze from the donated cellphones. People who have household appliances that are no longer working but still in good condition can hand over to the organizers as well.
Tokyo 2020 Sports Director Koji Murofushi told ABC News that their choice to gather old cellphones was because of the limited resources available on earth. "And so recycling these things and giving them a new use will make us all think about the environment," he said.
Murofushi also added: "Having a project that allows all the people of Japan to take part in creating the medals that will be hung around athletes' necks is really good. It will become quite a big memory for children, who think that something they gave may have been part of creating those medals."
Boxes for collection will be stationed at local offices and telecoms all over the country. People can start donating by April.
About eight tons of discarded cellphones or appliances will be needed to make the medals. These metals would also be crafted for the Paralympics as well.
In the past, Olympic committees obtained the metals through miners. Japan, who acknowledges its lack of resources, would like to take a step in promoting environmental ways to make the 2020 Olympics happen.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
