Olympic Medals Reuse
E-Waste
By Jace
Shoemaker-Galloway
(February 12th, 2010)
- The Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic
Winter Games have added another color to its
coveted gold, silver and bronze medal lineup - green! For the
first time in Olympic history, the 2010 athlete medals contain
metals from end-of-life electronic waste, commonly referred to as
e-waste.
Teck Resources,
Ltd., a diversified mining company based in
Vancouver, is the exclusive supplier of the metals used in the
Olympic medals. Components from circuit boards originally
destined to landfills, have been added to all of the athletes'
medals. In fact, 6.8 metric tonnes of circuit board from
end-of-life electronics were diverted from landfills for the making
of the 1,014 medals. The company is also an Official
Supporter of the Games.
Royal Canadian Mint
While Teck Resources supplied the metals, the one-of-a-kind
works of art were manufactured by the Royal Canadian
Mint. The Mint has several facilities in
Canada, one in Ottawa and one in Winnipeg. The Ottawa
facility produces all of Canada's circulation coins while the
Ottawa facility produces gold bouillon, commemorative and collector
coins as well as medallions and medals. The Olympic medals
were manufactured at the Ottawa facility.
2010 Vancouver Winter Games Medals
After a year of planning, the manufacturing and
prototype development process took more than 400 days and required
over 30 complex steps to complete. With 615 Olympic Winter
Games medals and 399 medals for the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic
Winter Games, no two medals are alike.
The designs of the medals were inspired by the athletes
themselves, who shared their stories and experiences about medals
from the past as well as their visions for future medals.
Each unique medal reflects the athlete's personal story and
achievement.
And for the first time, the medals include a special wavy form,
representing the ocean waves, drifting snow and beautiful mountains
of the Vancouver-Whistler landscape created by Canadian industrial
designer Omer Arbel.
The design on the medals is based on contemporary Aboriginal
artwork by Canadian artist Corrine Hunt. The Olympic medal
includes an orca whale while the Paralympic medal is based on the
raven. Because of the medals unique wavy form, the design and
text had to be individually laser engraved. The name of the Games
in both English and French, emblems and name of the sport are on
the back side of the medals.
The Olympic medals measure 100 millimeters in diameter and are
six mm thick. The Paralympic medals are a bit smaller, 95 mm
wide. While the Olympic medals are circular, the Paralympic medals
are a super-ellipse shape and also include Braille on the back
side. Depending on the medal, each weighs between 500 and 576
grams making them among the heaviest athlete medals in Olympic
history.
2.05 kilograms of gold, 1, 950 kg of silver and 903 kilograms of
copper were used in the medals. The specific content of
e-waste material used in the medals are as follows: Gold -
1.52 percent, Silver - 0.122 percent and Copper - 1.11 percent.