Fact Check: Olympic medals = 100% recycled

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC)— Team USA has been racking up the medals at the Olympics in Tokyo! Have you heard the medals are made from recycled phones? Is that true? News10NBC’s Nikki Rudd did a Fact Check.

If it’s true, you’d need millions of cell phones to make all the Olympic medals for the summer games.

Here’s a breakdown: You’d need about 70 pounds of gold, more than 7,700 pounds of silver, and 4,850 pounds of bronze. To make that happen, millions of cell phones would be needed.

Guess what? That’s exactly what they did, and it took years.

The Tokyo 2020 Medal Project started in 2017. People from all over Japan donated small electronic devices, like cell phones. After two years, nearly 79-thousand tons of donated devices came in. That included more than six million mobile phones.

The silver medals for the 2016 Rio Games were partly made from recycled materials, around 30%. However, this is the first time all Olympic medals were made from 100% recycled material. That is a fact.

In all, 5,000 medals were made. If you’re wondering why more gold wasn’t needed, that’s because those gold medals are silver with a thin layer of gold on top.

Let’s hope Team USA gets some more of them now through Sunday!

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Check out other Fact Checks here. If you have an idea for Fact Check, email Nikki Rudd at nrudd@whec.com.