MEMRECS—A Sustainable View for Metal Recycling from Waste Printed Circuit Boards

Abstract

This study analyses the metal recyclability from waste Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) with three material recycling quoting approaches: Material Recycling Efficiency (MRE), Resource Recovery Efficiency (RRE), and Quotes for Environmentally Weighted Recyclability (QWERTY). The results indicate that MRE is likely inapplicable to quoting the metal recyclability of waste PCBs because it makes the recycling of any metal is equal to each other (e.g. recycling of 1 kg of gold is as important as recycling of 1 kg of iron). RRE and QWERTY can overcome the poor yardstick of MRE because they concern not only the weight of recycled materials but also the contribution of recycled materials to the natural resource conservation and the environmental impact reduction, respectively. These two approaches, however, report an extremely different result, that makes the target stakeholders get confused with which material recycled. From the findings of the aforementioned analysis, this study proposes the Model for Evaluating Metal Recycling Efficiency from Complex Scraps (MEMRECS) as a new approach to quotes the metal recycling performance. MEMRECS allows a trade-offs between three criteria: mass, environmental impacts and natural resources conservation, hence it can provide the result in a sustainable sound manner. MEMRECS clearly models and enhances the role of natural resources conservation aspect rather than QWERTY does.

Share and Cite:

H. Le, E. Yamasue, H. Okumura and K. Ishihara, "MEMRECS—A Sustainable View for Metal Recycling from Waste Printed Circuit Boards," Journal of Environmental Protection, Vol. 4 No. 8, 2013, pp. 803-810. doi: 10.4236/jep.2013.48094.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1] P. Laznicka, “Giant Metallic Deposits,” 2nd Edition, Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg, 2010. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-12405-1_1
[2] T. E. Norgate and W. J. Rankin, “The Role of Metals in Sustainable Development”. http://www.minerals.csiro.au/sd/CSIRO_Paper_LCA_Sust.pdf
[3] K. J. Martchk, “The Importance of Recycling to the Environmental Profile of Metal Products,” Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Recycling of Metals and Engineered Materials, 2000, pp. 19-28.
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrap
[5] http://green.wikia.com/wiki/Metal_recycling
[6] H. H. Kellogg, “Sizing up The Energy Requirements for Producing Primary Metals,” Engineering & Mining Journal, Vol. 187, No. 4, 1977, pp. 61-65.
[7] http://environment.about.com/od/recycling/a/metal-recycling.htm
[8] M. P. Luda, “Recycling of Printed Circuit Boards,” In: S. Kumar, Ed., Integrated Waste Management—Volume II, r InTech, New York, 2011, pp. 285-299. http://cdn.intechopen.com/pdfs/18491/InTech-Recycling_of_printed_circuit_boards.pdf
[9] H. Kalimo, “E-Cycling: Linking Trade and Environmental Law in the EC and the US,” Transnational Publishers, Inc., Ardsley, 2006, pp. 251-262.
[10] J. B. Legarth, L. Alting and G. L. Baldo, “Sustainability Issues in Circuit Board Recycling,” Proceedings of the 1995 IEEE International Symposium on Electronics and the Environment, Orlando, 1-3 May 1995, pp. 126-131.
[11] J. Li, P. Shrivastava, Z. Gao and H. C. Zhang, “Printed Circuit Board Recycling: A State-of-the-Art Survey,” IEEE Transactions on Electronics Packaging Manufacturing, Vol. 27, No. 1, 2004, pp. 33-42. doi:10.1109/TEPM.2004.830501
[12] H. L. Le, K. N. Ishihara, E. Yamasue and H. Okumura, “Assessment of Metal Recovery Efficiency for Waste Printed Circuit Boards in Vietnam with MEMRECS and Different End-of-Life Scenarios,” The 28th International Conference on Solid Waste Technology and Management, 10-13 March 2013, pp. 123-132.
[13] J. Huisman, C. B. Boks and A. L. N. Stevels, “Quotes for Environmental Weighted Recyclability—The Concept of Describing Product Recyclability in Terms of Environmental Value,” International Journal of Production Research, Vol. 41, No. 16, 2003, pp. 3649-3665. doi:10.1080/0020754031000120069
[14] Y. J. Park and D. J. Fray, “Recovery of High Purity Precious Metals from Printed Circuit Boards,” Journal of Hazardous Materials, Vol. 164, No. 2-3, 2009, pp. 1152-1158. doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2008.09.043
[15] L. H. Yamane, V. T. Moraes, D. C. R. Espinosa and J. A. S. Tenorio, “Recycling of WEEE: Characterization of Spent Printed Circuit Boards from Mobile Phones and Computers,” Waste Management, Vol. 31, No. 12, 2011, pp. 2553-2558. doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2011.07.006
[16] C. Hageluken, “Improving Metal Returns and Eco-Efficiency in Electronic Recycling—A Holistic Approach for Interface Optimization between Pre-Processing and Integrated Metals Smelting and Refining,” Proceedings of the 2006 IEEE International Symposium on Electronic and the Environment, 8-11 May 2006, pp. 218-223.
[17] A. C. Kasper, G. B. T. Berselli, B. D. Freitas, J. A. S. Tenório, A. M. Bernardes and H. M. Veit, “Printed Wiring Boards for Mobile Phones: Characterization and Recycling of Copper,” Waste Management, Vol. 31, No. 12, 2011, pp. 2536-2545.
[18] M. Classen, H. J. Althaus, S. Blaser, M. Tuchschmid, N. Jungbluth, G. Doka, M. Faist Emmenegger and W. Scharnhorst, “Life Cycle Inventories of Metals. Final Report Ecoinvent Data v2.1,” EMPA Dübendorf. Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories, Dubendorf, 2009.
[19] M. Goedkoop and R. Spriensma, “The Eco Indicator’99, a Damage-Oriented Method for Life Cycle Impact Assessment. Final Report,” National Reuse of Waste Research Program, Pré Consultants, Amersfoort, 2000.
[20] “Mineral Commodity Summaries 2012,” US Geological survey, Reston, 2012.
[21] J. Huang, “Combining Entropy Weight and TOPSIS Method for Information System Selection,” International Conference on Cybernetics and Intelligent Systems, Qingdao, 1-3 September 2008, pp. 1281-1284.
[22] N. Munier, “A Strategy for Using Multicriteria Analysis in Decision-Making,” Springer Science + Business Media B.V., Dordrecht, 2011, p. 45.
[23] J. C. Pomerol and S. B. Romero, “Multicriterion Decision in Management: Principles and Practice,” Kluwer Academic Publisher, Norwel, 2000, pp. 87-89. doi:10.1007/978-1-4615-4459-3
[24] R. Frischknecht and N. Jungbluth, “Implementation of Life Cycle Impact Assessment Methods,” Ecoinvent Report No. 3, Dübendorf, 2007, p. 46.
[25] P. Swart and J. Dewulf, “Quantifying the Impacts of Primary Metal Resource Use in Life Cycle Assessment Based on Recent Mining Data,” Resources, Conservation and Recycling, Vol. 73, 2013, pp. 180-187. doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2013.02.007

Copyright © 2024 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc.

Creative Commons License

This work and the related PDF file are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.