A review of the recycling of non-metallic fractions of printed circuit boards

Abstract

There is a big waste generation nowadays due to the growing demand for innovation and the fact that more and more products have a reduced lifetime, increasing the volume of dumps and landfills. Currently, one of the segments of large volume is the technology waste, which reflects on the printed circuit boards (PCBs) that are the basis of the electronics industry. This type of waste disposal is difficult, given that recycling is complex and expensive, because of the diversity of existing materials and components, and their difficult separation process. Regarding the material involved in PCBs, there are metal fractions (MFs) and non-metallic fractions (NMFs), of which the recycling of NMFs is one of the most important and difficult processes, because they amount to about 70% of the weight of the PCB’s waste. In the present paper, a literature review of the recycling of non-metallic fractions (NMFs) has been carried out, showing different studies and guidelines regarding this type of recycling, emphasizing that this type of waste still lacks for further application.