The most sustainable Olympic Games ever

During July and August 2021, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games took place (postponed until the following year due to the pandemic).

Among the various world records and achievements, sustainability has not gone unnoticed. The organization of the Olympics has increasingly environmental concerns and this year there were several initiatives, following the principle “Be better, together – For the planet and the people”.

One of the measures adopted were podiums built with recycled plastic. Approximately 45 tons of plastic waste were transformed into raw material to produce the podiums designed by Japanese designer Asao Tokolo.

For its construction, the Japanese people donated the equivalent of 400,000 bottles through more than 2000 collection points spread across the country. These bottles were recycled and transformed to 3D print the 98 podiums that were used during the Olympics!

                                              

To reward athletes who manage to reach the podium, 100% recyclable Olympic medals were manufactured and made from metals reused from electronic waste.

To be able to produce around 5000 medals for the Olympic Games, production at the event once again resorted to donations of unused equipment from the Japanese. Using equipment such as old mobile phones and computers, which were dismantled to reuse the noble metals - gold, silver and bronze - present inside, it was possible to extract 32 kilograms of gold, 3,500 kilograms of silver, 2,200 kilograms of bronzeand other metals.

In total, more than 6 million old cell phones and more than 78 tons of old or damaged computers, tablets, monitors and other devices were collected.

Each medal weighs approximately one pound, but the composition of each medal varies. The gold ones are made with 550 grams of silver covered by 6 grams of gold, both recycled, of course. The silver ones are made from just 550 grams of the material itself and the bronze ones are made from 450 grams of red bronze.