Collection Corner

Metal to medal

In addition to taking home gold, silver and bronze medals, athletes at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics could have a unique story behind their rewards. Event organizers want to source the metals needed to make medals for the games by tapping the country’s “urban mine”—the millions of discarded smartphones and other small consumer electronics—according to a report from the Nikkei Asian Review.

Japan’s e-scrap urban mine contains enough precious metals to produce all the medals for both the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the report says.

Dream big

They say dream big—and for kids who are fans of their local recycling and waste collection trucks, they don’t have to fantasize anymore. Thanks to Big Rig Beds, boys and girls alike can enjoy a custom bed resembling collection trucks. Equipped with working lights and a real truck horn, the beds can be customized to any color and with graphics or other options.

Peter Catanio built his first Big Rig Bed, a race car, for his son in 2002. Since then, he has designed custom beds that resemble fire trucks, flatbeds, trains and dump trucks, among other designs, as well as dressers. The Garbage Truck Bed, created for an almost 3-year-old boy who is fascinated with his local collection truck, is Catanio’s most recent creation.

Visit http://bigrigbedsllc.com for more information.

Good as new

When Smile Plastics opened nearly two decades ago, the maker of handmade plastic panels primarily used plastic bottles that once held shampoo, detergent and milk, according to its website www.smile-plastics.com. The United Kingdom-based company has since expanded its products as well as the types of plastics it sources, ranging from cellphones and rain boots to confiscated CDs.

With names like “Bottle” and “Yogurt,” Smile Plastics’ recycled plastic sheets have created a closed-loop process using postconsumer and postindustrial plastics. The company makes cutting boards and customized plastic panels, which have made their way into furniture, retail stores and restaurants, among other places.