If you're in Japan, your old, crappy phone from a few years ago could end up around the neck of an Olympic athlete in 2020.
The organisers of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo launched an initiative by asking the Japanese public to donate their "discarded or obsolete electronic devices," according to a statement on the Olympics homepage. Medals for hte games will be created out of metal from the recycled devices as part of a "nationwide green initiative."
In addition to "engag[ing] the whole Japanese nation and offer[ing] to everyone the opportunity to play a role in the Games' preparations," the project is a response to 2014's Recommendation 4 of Olympic Agenda 2020, which aims to:
"Develop a sustainability strategy to enable potential and actual Olympic Games organisers to integrate and implement sustainability measures that encompass economic, social and environmental spheres in all stages of their project."
According to BBC, collection boxes will be placed in local offices and stores from April until two tons of gold, silver, and bronze (to make a total of 5,000 medals) is collected.
