WHAT ARE THE ELEMENTS YOU CAN RECYCLE FROM PCBs?

Rising electronic waste and its ill-effects on the environment are quickly becoming some of the biggest challenges that our generation is currently facing. Thankfully, options like recycling PCB components are becoming widely available and are allowing manufacturers to reduce their carbon footprint and steer the industry towards a more sustainable future. This blog post will help explain the viability and value derived from PCB recycling.

Here is a list of all the elements that you can effectively recycle from a PCB.

Dross: Soldering of components can often produce a lot of oxidized waste alloy that can no longer be used on the PCB being manufactured. This oxidized metal, known as dross, can be effectively refined and purified for reuse through recycling of PCB components.

Precious metals: Most electronic components and circuit boards make use of precious metals like gold, silver, palladium, platinum and such for various purposes and applications. Scrap PCBs can be effectively recycled through electrolytic refining processes for extracting residual quantities of these metals which can later be used again in further manufacturing/processing.

Other metals: The large variety of industrial components found on a PCB can also be recycled to reclaim metals like tin, bismuth, lead and different alloys. Reclaiming of these metals involves careful processing of parts like radiator drips, scrap alloys, solder paste and more.

Anode butts: High metallic return is usually expected from the recycling of this part of a PCB. The part of the anode that is left behind post completion of the electroplating process is usually free from contaminants and can yield residual metals in an extremely cost effective manner.

The law now completely prohibits the dumping of printed circuit boards in landfills to prevent the ill effects of residual metals on the ecology. With the option of recycling PCB components, there is now a viable means to extract true value from this scrap and prevent further damage caused to the environment.