Recycling technologies for the treatment of end of life printed circuit boards (PCBs)

New legislation to encourage the recycling of end of life electronics and moves to implement sustainable development in electronics manufacturing have focussed attention on the large quantity of printed circuit boards (PCBs) being consigned to landfill. Also, in a recent investigation conducted on b...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Circuit world 2003-09, Vol.29 (3), p.33-37
Main Authors: Goosey, Martin, Kellner, Rod
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Copper
Landfill
Manufacturers
Manufacturing
Metallurgy
OEM
Precious metals
Printed circuit boards
Recycling
Scrap
Studies
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Summary:New legislation to encourage the recycling of end of life electronics and moves to implement sustainable development in electronics manufacturing have focussed attention on the large quantity of printed circuit boards (PCBs) being consigned to landfill. Also, in a recent investigation conducted on behalf of the UK's Department of Trade and Industry, the need for new methodologies for dealing with end of life circuit boards was identified as a priority issue. Within the UK it is estimated that ∼50,000 tonnes per annum of PCB scrap is currently generated and investigations indicate that only ∼15 per cent is subjected to any form of recycling, with the remainder consigned to landfill. This paper reports the results of a scoping study carried out to identify the technologies and processes that can be used to recycle materials from end of life PCBs.
ISSN:0305-6120
1758-602X
0305-6120
DOI:10.1108/03056120310460801