Today’s technology is giving businesses and people access to smaller, faster and more powerful computers. This means that every few years computers and their components are discarded because they are obsolete. Most of these components are non-biodegradable so when they are thrown into the trash they will indefinitely remain in a landfill somewhere. When people and businesses do computer recycling they do not think about the components inside and how some can be reused. With circuit boards they provide materials that can be used to make other things. Sometimes a business or individual wants to continue using the computer but needs to replace the worn out computer boards so they need to find an environmentally safe way of disposing of them. There are many ways in which you can do computer recycling of the circuit boards,
Returning to the manufacturer
When doing computer recycling there are some manufactures who offer reclamation plans, which means that they can turn in the old boards for credit. When the business or individual purchases new ones, the credit they received from the older boards is applied to the cost of the new ones, reducing the cost for business and individuals for the new boards. The manufacturer also benefits from this program by harvesting the components to be used for creating new circuit boards or refurbishing the circuit boards so they can be resold at a discount to their customers.
Recycling old circuit boards
If the business or individual just wants to do computer recycling they can take the computer to the recycling center and let them remove the older boards or they can take the computer apart and take out the circuit boards. They can then be broken down so the individual components can be sold to use in creating other electronic components.
Finding a direct buyer
This would be an option if the buyer, such as an individual who sells rebuilt computers, wants to stock up on older items to be refurbished and reused in the rebuilt computers. The buyer may also want to use the individual components for other projects they have.
Most businesses will do computer recycling and let the recycler deal with the circuit board and other components that can be resold but computer circuit board recycling can be done at home but is not recommended. Individuals who recycle computer circuit boards are generally ones that work in their home rebuilding computers. Most will either refurbish the board to be reused or remove the precious metals from the board. This can be done by burning the boards, which in turn will create a lot of pollution or you can use highly toxic corrosive chemicals.