Mobile phones contain metals such as gold. In fact, you can get 1 g of gold from 35 phones, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but not when you consider how many mobile phones are out there. The organizers of the Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, have sent out the call to people to donate their mobile phones and hopefully come up with 8 tonnes of metal–or 40 kilograms of gold, 4,290 kg of silver ,and 2,944 kg of bronze–with which to make the 5,000 medals for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and the Paralympics. Apart from promoting sustainability, another goal is to help the citizens be more directly involved in the event.
A recycling bin created by students from a Tokyo Metropolitan Government-run industrial high school has been set up at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government headquarters, and collection has already begun. It will end once the 8 tonne goal has been reached.
