The organizing committee for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics said Friday it expects to achieve its target of recycled metals needed for the competitions' medals by March.

Next year's medals will be made in part from metal from recycled cellphones and small electronic devices. At the end of October, the project had collected 93.7 percent of the necessary gold and 85.4 percent of the silver required.

(International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, left, standing next to Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike, puts a mobile phone in a box to collect unwanted digital devices set up at the Tokyo metropolitan government's main office in the Japanese capital on Nov. 25, 2018.)

The program to extract metals from recycled items began in April 2017, and by the end of last June, the target of 2,700 kilograms required for bronze medals had been achieved.

But at that juncture, the project had just around half of the 30.3 kg of gold and 4,100 kg of silver needed. In response, the number of collection boxes for devices recycling was increased.

"When we began, I felt anxiety about whether we would achieve 100 percent of our target," said Masaaki Komiya, a vice director general with the organizing committee. "I'm filled with gratitude."

The organizers said they will announce the medal designs for the Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer.