The gold, silver, and bronze medals awarded to athletes at the Tokyo Olympics were upcycled from thousands of smartphones and small electronic devices from all over Japan, making it the first time in history that the Olympic and Paralympic medals were made using recycled metals.
“Approximately 5,000 medals have been produced from small electronic devices that were contributed by people all over Japan,” wrote the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
“We hope that our project to recycle small consumer electronics and our efforts to contribute to an environmentally friendly, sustainable society will become a legacy of the Tokyo 2020 Games.”
The committee launched a medal design competition dubbed the Tokyo 2020 Medal Project and chose the winner from submissions made by people across the island nation.