PCB design and production face tight performance specifications that result in utilizing whatever components are best suited to achieving that goal. Under these conditions, little thought is generally given to eventual disposal of these components at the end of their useful life cycle. However, with e-waste (electronic waste) growing at an exponential rate worldwide, populated and bare PCBs alike are problematic components of the ever-growing stockpile of discarded equipment.

The EPA claims that for every million cell phones recycled (including their PCBs), 35 thousand pounds of copper, 772 pounds of silver, 75 pounds of gold, and 33 pounds of palladium can be recovered.

EEWeb: www.eeweb.com has great news and informations, especially its free electronics and electrical engineering magazines published weekly.

Above article is comes from EEweb. Please refer more info of "PCBs Rise from Ashes -- Salvaging Circuits " in this magazine.