Smelter or reuse: where to sell your circuit boards?
Short answer: if your boards carry reusable components (processors, memory, recent integrated circuits), the reuse route pays more than the smelter; if they are low-grade, end-of-life boards, smelting remains the right outlet. A smelter only values the metals recovered after shredding. Reuse values what the components do — and a component that works again is worth more than the grams of gold it contains.
The two routes compared
| Criterion | Smelter (materials recovery) | Reuse (RECYNEW) |
|---|---|---|
| What is paid for | Metal content (gold, copper, palladium) after shredding | The board by family, reusable components included |
| Price | Indexed on metal prices, identical for any board of the same grade | Public price list by board type — up to €26.00/kg for hard drive boards |
| Small volumes | Rarely accepted directly (tonnage minimums) | Accepted with no minimum, published price paid to everyone |
| Working boards | No premium: shredded like the rest | Paid above material value |
| WEEE traceability | Depends on the intermediary | WEEELABEX-certified centre, waste tracking note |
Worked examples (public, dated price list)
From our circuit board price list: hard drive board €26.00/kg, gold-plated board €15.90/kg, low-grade board €0.68/kg. The gap between a rich board and a poor one is 1 to 38: that is what sorting is about. At a smelter, those same boards go into one shredded lot at the average grade price — sorting earns you nothing.
Why reuse pays more
RECYNEW extracts reusable components (processors, memory, circuits) before materials recovery. Reselling them for a second life yields more than smelting, and that value is passed on in our buyback prices. What the smelter destroys, we pay for. The non-reusable remainder then goes to precious-metal recovery — nothing is lost.
When is the smelter the right choice?
For homogeneous tonnages of low-grade boards (power supplies, simple boards with no recoverable components), direct smelting makes sense: sorting adds no value. As soon as a lot is mixed or contains IT boards, have it quoted before sending it to the shredder — our public price lists let you compare in two minutes.
How do you get the best price for a mixed lot?
Send an inventory or photos: firm quote within 48 working hours, joint sorting and weighing on arrival. The published price is our floor price, paid to everyone; free registration unlocks a price list that rises with quantity — per kilo, per pallet or per full truck. Our price changes are published every month in the WEEE buyback price barometer.