The Vancouver Olympics made a smart choice in deciding to use precious metals from old electronics.
By salvaging medal materials from old products, the Olympic committee is saving perfectly good gold, silver, and bronze from ending up in landfills.

Canadian designer Corrine Hunt's medals are laser-etched, so no two are the same.
The orca-whale themed pieces also feature an undulating design meant to invoke the Vancouver landscape.

Because it makes no sense to mine for new gold when a single junked PC has more of the stuff in it than 17 tons of ore.
And if the medals are promoted well, they could bring awareness to the cause of recycled scrap.
With the entire world watching what happens at the Olympic games, there is no better venue to promote such an important--and easy-to-implement--solution to electronics recycling.

Source: Fastcompany.com