Electronics Waste Recycling

 

If you’ve been watching the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, you may have heard that the 5,000 medals produced were made from recycled electronics. 

The ‘Tokyo 2020 Medal Project’ started in 2017, involved 90% of Japanese cities, towns, and villages and hundreds of thousands of citizens? The campaign to donate old electronic devices produced 70 pounds of gold, 7,700 pounds of silver and 4,850 pounds of bronze from almost 80 tons of discarded phones and laptops.  Watch the Behind the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Medal video here.

 

Only 17% of scrap, including laptops and mobile phones, are being properly collected and recycled. So what can we do?

  1. Reconsider, reduce and reuse. Buy less, use devices as long as possible, and pass down or donate older devices.
  2. Buy responsibly. Research quality and service records, and only replace old items when they are beyond repair. And look for the Energy Star label for items that use less power.
  3. Educate. Teach your kids about e-waste, the resources that go into production and the by-products and pollution that comes out. 
  4. Recycle. Check out: