The Vancouver winter Olympic Games may have already come to a close, but for those athletes that took home the prized medals will have a piece of that victory to carry with them forever. Although the athletes medals represent a personal victory, the medals now also represent a small victory in eco-friendly recycling.
This year, for the first time in the history of the Olympics, the medals were made using recycled metals which were salvaged from discarded e-waste. A Canadian mining company, Teck Resources, was hired by the Olympic Committee to construct the medals using recycled gold, silver, and bronze from old computers.
By using recycled materials, not only has the Olympics highlighted an important step in saving the environment by recycling, but also prevented the need for more precious metals to be unearthed from the ground.
Just this week, a report conducted by the UN found that growing piles of electronic waste in China, India, and South America were becoming a problem in these countries and posing a threat to the environment.
The report indicated that it would be increasingly important for these developing countries to step up their efforts in recycling unwanted e-waste. The newly improvised Olympic medals can now stand for athletic excellence and highlight the growing need to recycle the vast amount of electric waste being accumulated in countries all over the world.
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