End-of-life options for printed electronics in municipal solid waste streams: a review of the challenges, opportunities, and sustainability implications

Abstract

Although printed electronics (PE) are a more sustainable option than conventional electronics, proper treatment of PE in their end-of-life phase is crucial to decrease their overall environmental impacts and ensure the materials specifically the metal fraction of PE are recovered. Thus, to investigate the state of the art regarding the research and development of material recovery from PE, this study performed a literature review process. It concluded that the majority of the observed articles rather not mention specifically what is recycling option for recycling the PE or introduced a novel recycling method for the metal ink. Only a marginal fraction of the articles covered proper recycling methods for the metal fraction of PE. Then based on the literature review process, this study investigates the suitability of the current waste management system to recover different fractions of PE products.