Tag: Recycle

2020 Olympics Medals Will Be Made From Gold Recycled From Old Smartphones

Olympics is a long-running athletic event which is over a century old. The event is generally believed to be the pinnacle of all sporting events and hosts a myriad of different competitions that have the worlds best athletes compete against each other whilst representing their respective nations. In the event, the contestants strive to show the result of their years of hard training in front of a global audience. The top honour for the event is the legendary gold medal. Surprisingly, for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, these prestigious badges will be made from precious metals recovered from recycled smartphones.

Smartphones are known to house over hundreds of tiny components. By its extension, those small but crucial parts are sometimes made of rare and expensive materials. Silver, bronze and even gold are materials that can be found in almost every device nowadays. Hence, programmes have surfaced worldwide for the recycling of electronic waste products with Apple being a notable name.

How They Were Made

The Tokyo 2020 organizing committee had started a two-year campaign to collect donated electronic devices from its citizens back in April 2017. It was undertaken to harvest the required metals. Over 78,895 tons of gadgets were received in total which included over 6.21 million smartphones. The end result saw an extraction of 32kg of gold, 3,500kg of silver and 2,200kg of bronze. 2020 Olympics organizing committee has revealed the designs of the medals one year prior to the actual event. The badge was designed by a person who won a competition that had entries from more than 400 professional designers and design students.

Olympic Medals

The Olympics’ medals that will be handed out to its first, second and third place winners are gold, silver and bronze respectively. The medals are 85mm in diameter and measure 7.7mm at their thinnest and 12.1 mm at their thickest. Gold medals use more than 6 grams of gold plating on pure silver, while the silver medals are made from pure silver. On the other hand, bronze medals are made from a red brass alloy consisting of 95% copper and 5% zinc.

Also Read: Apple iPhone 11 Leaked Internals And Camera Features Roundup

Olympics 2020 will begin from 24th July in Tokyo till 9th August and would have multiple countries send their best athletes to compete for top honours. For those wondering why stores still buy obsolete, old or broken phones, its to recycle its components or sell it for the small amounts of rare materials they carry. So if you are in possession of such an old device, cherish the treasure it holds within.

July 24, 2019
Samsung To Recover 157 Tons of Rare Earth Metals From Recalled Galaxy Note 7 Devices

Staying true to its promise made in March, Samsung will recycle parts from then recalled exploding Note 7 devices . Sales of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 were suspended last year, due to the poorly manufactured batteries. As stated in the reports released in March, Samsung has recently released refurbished Galaxy Note 7 FE in Korea. Even with all the refurbished handsets for sale, Samsung will still be left with the heaps of devices to recycle.

Samsung will kick start its phone recycling process this month and is expected to recover 157 tonnes of rare metals like gold, cobalt and copper. Samsung also plans on utilising the existing parts like OLED display modules, memory chips, and camera modules from the unsold refurbished handsets as replacement parts for repairs. New reports have surfaced stating that Samsung might pair with local (in Korea) and international companies for the recycling initiative, though the names of the companies have not been disclosed.

Samsung’s Note 7’s failure cost the company a loss of US $5.4 billion. Though the rare materials like gold, cobalt and copper from salvaging the scraped Note 7 might not be enough to cover the losses, it will still offers some respite, to Samsung and to the environment. In a recent statement made by Samsung, the company has “actively lead the industry in terms of environmental protection and resource recycling.” and is working on discovering new ways to recycle materials from the products in an environmental friendly manner. Apple, amongst many others have followed the lead to recycle and reduce their impact on the planet by figuring out a way to use only renewable materials in its products. And while Apple’s Robot Liam helps them deal with the reduction of the company’s footprint, Samsung’s Note 7 recall has offset the company’s carbon footprint for the worse.

While Samsung’s Note 7 recycling efforts will be appreciated, it seems that the company has timed the announcement just around the soon to be launched Galaxy Note 8, being one of the crucial launches for the company. Good PR we’d say !

July 18, 2017
Apple Recovers US $ 40 Million Gold Thanks To New Recycling

Apple has run its recycling program for a very long time and users often return their old beat down phones to Apple in efforts to properly dispose of the ruined smartphone. Apple’s latest Environmental Responsibility Report (PDF) shows that it recovered 89 million pounds of materials in its recycling program last year, including $40 million worth of gold.

Gold is used in many Apple portable components and circuit boards because “it has low electrical resistance and, unlike copper, doesn’t corrode.” This adds to the efficiency of the product and if recycled properly can save the wastage of the precious material.

Apple has already shown off its interests in Recycling this year, pushing the user to add to helping save the environment and the new Auto Recycling Robot LIAM.

You can read the full report here.

April 18, 2016
First Plastic Eating Bacteria To Solve Waste Pollution Problems

Plastic, as a material of use, has become a common fixture in our busy metropolitan lives. From packaging, toys, to even clothing, plastic is widely used in our day to day lives. It presents itself as a cheaper and at most times, a more logical choice when compared to other alternatives that can be used for the manufacturing of household goods.

Products made using plastic are lightweight and sturdy at the same time, but once discarded, because of its molecular composition, which makes it non-biodegradable, plastic can survive in the environment for a long time hence being a litter menace to the planet. But all that is about to change very soon. Recently, a team at Kyoto University has found a microbe that can chew away at plastic down at the molecular level, hence making it biodegradable.

After five years of searching through scores of samples, the team has isolated a bacteria that could live on poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), a common plastic used in bottles and clothing. They named the new species of bacteria Ideonella sakaiensis. The species fully breaks down Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) which happens to be one of the most common strains of plastic produced today. Most common usage of PET is found in the packaging of bottled drinks.

According to estimates, over 70 million tons of PET plastic is produced every year around the globe, which takes close to 450 years to break down completely on its own. Plastic has as such become a major contributor to pollution today. This new breakthrough for good, could change the fate of the planet in the coming years.

March 11, 2016