Recycling E-waste Metals and Polymers for Recovery of Value-Added Materials

Electronic waste (e-waste) is one of the fastest increasing waste streams worldwide due to unprecedented growth of the electronics industry, rapid obsolescence and subsequent disposal of electronic devices. Printed circuit boards (PCBs), the central component of electronic devices, are highly complex. PCBs are an important resource of metals, and contain substantial amounts of copper, tin, lead and precious metals in concentrations considerably higher than in their corresponding ores. The high value and limited reserves of minerals containing these metals makes their urban mining from waste PCBs very attractive. However, these also contain significant quantities of hazardous and toxic materials, which can result in high levels of pollution when such waste is landfilled or processed inappropriately.