The medals of the XXI Olympic Winter Games , to be held in the city of Vancouver (Canada) next February, will use recycled metals as raw materials.
The gold, silver and bronze that will be worn on the necks of athletes who take the podium during the next winter Olympics will come from obsolete televisions, computer circuits, keyboards, mobiles and other electronic components , organizers have announced.
With this initiative, it is intended to call for the necessary recycling of the so-called “electronic waste” ( e-waste in English). Experts estimate that it takes more than 17 tons of ore to obtain the same amount of gold that the circuits of an old PC provide . Furthermore, according to the United Nations University, a ton of used mobile phones (around 6,000 units) contains around 3.5 kilos of silver, 340 grams of gold, 140 grams of palladium and 130 kilograms of copper. Together with the 3.5 grams of copper in the batteries, the total value of that ton of phones destined for garbage is $ 15,000.
Recycled metal won’t be the only innovation for the upcoming Olympic medals. For the first time in history, its surface will not be flat, but wavy. In this way, designers Corrine Hunt and Omer Arbel seek to evoke “the snowy mountain landscapes of Canada.”
