Tokyo Olympic organizers said that all its medals in the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic games are expected to be manufactured by recycled metals which are extracted from discard cameras, phones or laptops, according to an AP report.

Gold tablets of 3 grams, left, which is able to be recycled from 100 mobile phones, are shown as example in Tokyo on April 1, 2017. [File photo: AP]

This is part of the committee's Tokyo 2020 Medal Project, which is seen as an exercise in citizen participation to manufacture medals with the help of its people from across the country.

This is the first attempt in Olympic history that sees all the medals being made from 100 percent recycled content.

In a statement issued by the Committee last Friday, up to November last year, the city has collected nearly 47,500 tons of obstacle devices and local residents also donated over 5 million second-hand mobile phones.

Sufficient scrap electronic devices are expected to be collected by the end of this March to reach the amount that is required to make the medals.

Initiated in 2017, the project is set to target a 100 percent recycling rate in the refining of gold and by using scrap metals in the manufacture of medals for the approximately 5,000 gold, silver and bronze medals to be awarded at the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The design of the Tokyo medals will be unveiled later this year.
(With input from AP)