Next On Your “To Recycle” List: Used Teeth

If you thought that recycling garbage, paper, plastics and electronics covers about everything – well, prepared to be surprised.

The Fukuoka municipal government in Japan decided to recycle used dentures (false teeth) . Around the city will be designated boxes where people can throw away their old dentures. If you think that with this new recycling effort you will be able to get dentures for cheap – you are out of luck. The teeth will be send to recycling factories where precious metals can be extracted from the used teeth. You can find metals like gold and platinum in false teeth and dentures and that’s mean money.

The project administration estimates that each set of teeth can be worth $30 of precious metals. Consider the natural habit of the Japanese to recycle, and you’ve got a gold mine in your hands. But this time it’s for a good cause: The money collected from recycling the teeth will be donated to UNICEF.

What’s next on Japan weird recycling list? Let us know if you’ve got any ideas.

More in [Mainichi]