The medals for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics will be made from metals reclaimed from discarded cell phones.
Olympic organizers say they are asking the Japanese public to donate old phones or other old electronic appliances in an effort to collect as much as eight tons of metal to produce the 5,000 gold, silver and bronze medals that will be awarded during both events.
Starting in April, special boxes for donated phones will be placed in offices and phone stores.
"A project that allows the people of Japan to take part in creating the medals is really good," said Tokyo 2020 sports director Koji Murofushi, according to the BBC. "There's a limit on the resources of our Earth, so recycling these things will make us think about the environment."
The move was met with support from former U.S. Olympic gold medalist Ashton Eaton, who won back-to-back gold medals in the decathlon. He tweeted that he was tempted to come out of retirement to vie for one of the medals.
This will not be the first time recycled materials have been used to make Olympic medals. For the 2016 Rio Games, the bronze and silver medals were made in part from recycled products.
