Super target: 2010 Olympic medals take recycling to a new level

If you've ever recycled a computer in Canada, you may have a small claim to fame at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.


It's the ultimate in recycling -- saving money while making something beautiful out of trash.



The Olympic athletes won't exactly be wearing old circuit boards around their necks. Working with the Royal Canadian Mint, Vancouver metals giant Teck Resources is producing the metals after shredding, separating and heating electronic components and then combining the byproducts with metals from other sources.

The recycled metals are from Teck's operations in Canada, including British Columbia, Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as Alaska, Chile and Peru.

The Olympic medals are undulating, not flat, and will be the heaviest in the history of the Games. They're based on two artworks of an orca whale and raven by Corrine Hunt, a B.C.-born artist.

This is a fantastic use of old computers, which makes me think there must be an artist out there somewhere who could turn some of the many recycled computers into permanent art somewhere. Maybe in Vancouver?