The Paralympic medals will sport some new and beneficial features for the athletes that will receive them this summer.
The medals will feature braille for the visually impaired, as well as a tiny device that makes different noises when the medals are shaken. The device lets athletes know which medal they received (bronze, silver, gold) with just the simple shake of the medal. Gold has the loudest noise and bronze has the softest, with the silver right in between.
The gold has been extracted without the use of mercury and was produced using strict sustainability criteria from the initial mining of the material to the design of the finished product.
The silver and bronze medals have been produced using 30% recycled materials, and half of the plastic that is used in the band of the medal has come from recycled plastic bottles.
The effort to provide sustainable objects continues with the cases which will house the medals, made from special freijo wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. The podiums are also made from organic material in order to celebrate the tropical nature of Brazil. These podiums will be able to be converted into furniture after the Games are over, eliminating the need to crowd a landfill.
The Paralympic Games will begin August 7th, and swimming will commence the next day, August 8th.
I’m sure you mean “vision impaired”