The organising committee for the Tokyo Olympics is asking the Japanese people to donate used electronics to be recycled as medals. All modern electronics contain trace amounts of rare metals like gold and silver, and Japan hopes to collect as much as eight tonnes of the materials.
Collection boxes will be placed across the country, and will be available until the target weight has been reached. To be fair, eight tonnes is not all that lofty a goal as the Japanese government has one of the most efficient electronics recycling programmes in the world. Using recycled precious metals is also part of the sustainability aspect required by the agenda set by the Tokyo 2020 committee.
Recycling electronics is slowly becoming a bigger issue across the world, as more and more gadgets and gizmos enter the consumer market. Recovering rare metals from these devices could help control the rising prices; especially since the supply of these materials is not guaranteed to continue forever.
[Source: Tokyo 2020]
