Xinhua News Agency, Tokyo, July 27th (Reporter Yan Ye) There are more than 5,000 gold, silver and bronze medals in the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. The raw materials for these medals, such as gold, silver and copper, are all extracted from waste. Of electronic products-e-waste.
On June 3, the staff displayed the award-giving volunteers' dresses and medal trays at the launch ceremony. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Zijiang
From April 2017 to March 2019, Tokyo initiated an event called "Building National Olympic Medals from Urban Mines". With the participation of 1,621 local governments across Japan, a total of 6.21 million used mobile phones and 78,985 tons of small household appliances were used, and about 32 kilograms of gold, about 3,500 kilograms of silver, and about 2,200 kilograms of copper were extracted from them.
In Japan, electronic waste is also known as the "urban mine". In addition to the extraction and recycling of general raw materials such as iron, copper, aluminum, and plastics, waste electronic products can also extract and recover precious metals such as platinum, gold, and silver, and Rare metals such as palladium and indium. Although the amount of these precious and rare metals extracted from each electronic product is negligible, as far as the average gold mine is concerned, the gold contained in a ton of ore is only 5 to 10 grams, and a ton of mobile phone can extract gold. About 150 grams!
Tokyo Olympic medals. The picture comes from the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee
The gold, silver and bronze medals of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics weigh about 556 grams, 550 grams and 450 grams respectively. The material of the gold medals is about 6 grams of gold plated on sterling silver, and the silver medals It is made of pure silver, and the material of the bronze medal is red copper (copper-zinc alloy, zinc content below 20%). It is said that the gold and silver medals of this Olympics are the heaviest in the past, and the bronze medals are the same as the previous two.
Tokyo Olympic medal. The picture is from the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee.
Japan named resource reuse as the "mottainai (Japanese original meaning cherished items) movement" to promote it, and is committed to spreading the concept of environmental protection contained in this Japanese idiom to the world. This very colloquial term became popular because the Kenyan social activist Wangari Maathai, who visited Japan for the first time in 2005, resonated with this phrase. Maathai won the Nobel Peace Prize in December 2004 for his outstanding contribution to the environment.The Minister of the Environment who was responsible for receiving Maathai's visit to Japan and the current Governor of Tokyo Yuriko Koike is an active advocate of this "mottainai movement".
Tokyo Olympic medal. The picture is from the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee.
A Japanese company called ReNet Japan is an active promoter of this "Creating National Olympic Medals from Urban Mines". President Takeshi Kuroda once said that this "mottainai movement" will be promoted in the next 25 cities where the Olympics will be held, so that the concept of environmental protection and recycling will be deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. In particular, it is necessary to cultivate the children participating in this event to be more involved in the Olympics. Interest, determined to be an Olympian one day.
Nowadays, more and more manufacturers in Japan have paid attention to the recycling of reusable resources from e-waste. , Matsushita Electric , etc. have specialized recycling plants for old home appliances, where we see all kinds of reusable materials extracted from old TV sets, old refrigerators, etc., lamenting that human beings are entering an efficient use of resources and energy. , The era of asking for as little as possible from the earth.
Editor: Wang Qinou, Wu Bowen, Gao Meng, Li Guodong (internship)
Produced by Xinhua News Agency’s Tokyo Olympics Reporting Group
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