Tokyo Sets Up Mobile Phone Recycling Bin for Making Olympic Medals

Tokyo, Feb. 16 (Jiji Press)--The Tokyo metropolitan government set up at its headquarters building on Thursday a recycling bin to collect mobile phones and other electronic devices for a project to make medals for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics from metals recovered from such used devices. At a ceremony for the bin's installation, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike put three used mobile phones of her own into the bin. "I'm so thrilled to think that these will turn into medals," she said. "Let's get the momentum rolling," Koike added, seeking support for the project. In the project, the organizing committee of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics will collect mobile phones, digital cameras and seven other electronic device items, with cooperation from major mobile phone carrier NTT Docomo Inc. <9437> and others. Metals contained in the collected devices will be recycled to make gold, silver and bronze medals. About 2 tons of metals are needed for making some 5,000 medals that will be used in the Tokyo Games. That is equivalent to metals contained in around 20 million mobile phones. The recycling bin, made by students of a Tokyo metropolitan government-run industrial high school, has a panel that shows the number of devices collected. END