In the upcoming 2020 Tokyo Olympics, there will be a shift from plastic or steel to timber and other environment-friendly materials in the newly re-built National Stadium.
The podiums and Olympic Torch Relay uniforms will be made of recycled plastic and household waste. Even the gold, silver and bronze medals will be made from discarded mobile phones, laptops, gaming consoles, digital cameras and other electronic gadgets.
Apart from saving US $ 0.50-1.00 billion, Japan will be able to utilise millions of discarded gadgets this way.
To make the Olympics sustainable and environmentally safer, Japan has extracted 30 kg gold, 4,100 kg silver and 2,700 kg bronze from 6.21 million used mobile phones, laptops, digital cameras and game consoles. These will be used to make 5000 medals.
In 2016, Brazil was able to make 30 per cent of its silver and bronze medals using discarded electronics.
The Japanese people have donated 45 tonnes of household material to make the podiums. A hundred victory ceremony podiums are expected to be built out of recycled household waste and marine waste plastic.
The Olympic Torch uniforms will be made of recycled plastic bottles.
The new stadium will have roofs and facades made out of wood. It will have stepped terraces and vertical gardens, with trees planted using recycled water.
[With inputs from Asian Community News]
