Teaching Families About The Benefits Of Recycling

A Look At The Recyclable Components In Electronic Circuit Boards

From the inside of your laptop to the inside of your radio, there is a circuit board in there that carries electrical currents and data to different points in your system. Circuit boards are a part of almost every electronic you can imagine, and these things take a lot to manufacture. While the circuit boards are made of a full list of components, these electronic fixtures are recyclable. Many contain precious and valuable metals that can be fully recycled, but the bigger idea is to reduce the overall impact on the environment that comes from these components in landfills. Take a look at some of the recyclable components you can find in many types of circuit boards:

Tin

Tin is a chemical element that is commonly integrated into circuit boards. This material can be found in small strips around the circuit board because it is capable of carrying electrical current through the system as needed but is also in the solder used to hold components to the circuit board itself. Because tin is a chemical element that is metallic in form, it is recyclable, and it is also quite valuable.

Copper

Copper has long been used in electrical construction because of its supreme ability to hold and carry current without the current losing its strength during transport. You will likely find several copper components on the average circuit board, from the small anodes integrated into the board to the reactors inside small plugs and buttons. Copper is considered one of the softer metal compounds, so it is usually easy to break off and remove from the circuit board during the recycling process. 

Gold

Believe it or not, some circuit boards actually have gold-plated elements integrated into the construction. Gold is electrically conductive, so it is a natural fit for some of the processes of a circuit board where copper will not work or would be too pliable. Because gold in a circuit board tends to be in plated form, harvesting the gold is an arduous process that involves chemically reducing certain metals to separate the gold content. 

Take one look at a circuit board and you can see a full list of different materials that don't belong in the trash because they can be reused. If you would like to know more, or if you have circuit boards to recycle, contact a metal or electronic recycling center like Dabal & Sons Inc for more information.