An effort that deserves a medal

Dealing with e-waste is one of the major issues today’s world is facing. And it has been remaining unsolved for many years. However, Tokyo’s organising committee for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games has come up with an idea that would contribute much towards e-waste management. The committee says that it plans to make athletes’ medals out of discarded electronic equipment.

It adds that the idea received huge support from the public, companies across Japan and from national and international athletes, resulting in the municipal authorities collecting about 47,488 tons of e-waste. The items comprise more than five million disused phones that were collected from the stations set up in post offices and other public buildings.

The committee’s target of 2,700kg of bronze was met last June, while 93.7 per cent of the 30.3kg gold target and 85.4 per cent of the 4,100kg silver target had been extracted by October.

The targeted amounts of gold and silver haven’t quite been recovered just yet, but based on the number of devices that have already been collected, the committee says there will be enough material to reach the goal.