The winners at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics will be crowned on podiums designed by Japanese artist Asao Tokolo, which were made from 24.5 tonnes of discarded household plastics.
Over the course of nine months, the Japanese public donated the equivalent of 400,000 bottles of laundry detergent via more than 2,000 collection boxes that were installed in department stores and schools across Japan.
Recycled and turned into filaments, they were used to 3D print all 98 podiums that will be used during the Games.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympic podium (above) is created using 3D printing technology (top video)
The initiative forms part of a wider effort to involve everyday people in the event's sustainability plan, which has also seen citizens donate old electronic devices so they could be turned into the Tokyo 2020 Olympic medals. "The podiums were created with the purpose of showing the world the different ways in which a sustainable society can be realised, and engaged the whole population of Japan in the podium production process in a historic Games' first," the organisers explained.
The checkerboard pattern is based on the Tokyo 2020 Olympic logo by artist Asao Tokolo
Each podium is constructed of a number of small cube-shaped modules that were connected to form the traditional three pedestals.
Alternatively, they can also be turned into a flattened, accessible platform for the Paralympics while a socially distanced version is currently being designed to align with...