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New Glue Could Reduce Computer Trash

Posted by timothy on from the are-you-just-going-to-throw-that-away? dept.

LostScorp88 writes: "An engineer at Cornell University, Mr. Chris Ober, has developed a new glue for computer parts (mainly mobos/circuit boards) that allows them to be recycled. Previously, the glue used was too strong to be easily separated. The new glue allows the parts to be separated at high temperatures. Read the article [here]." Considering the problems (and expense) of properly and legally disposing of computer equipment, this small advance could have a big impact.

4 of 48 comments (clear)

  1. Recycle materials, not parts by 4im · · Score: 3

    Funny how the first few posters seem to think that this would affect the recycling of parts, when actually the goal would be to be able to seperate different kinds of materials, thereby to allow reusing them instead of just burning or throwing away a strange mix of stuff, which has its own kinds of negative impact on the environment.

    Being able to cleanly separate the layers of a circuit board is currently one of the biggest obstacles in recycling electronics.

    Remember, you don't want to reuse 8088's or somesuch, but the raw materials.

    So yes, I think this may be a big issue.

    4im

  2. Nice solution to a sticky situation by ptbrown · · Score: 3

    This sounds very convenient, but how much of the recyclability problem is in the glue? I always thought it was in the toxic materials used for making ICs, the PCBs in the circuit boards, and the lead in monitor glass.

    "The biggest obstacle is the glue that binds components to the circuit board"
    Funny, I always thought that stuff was called "solder."

    --
    Any sufficiently advanced civilization is indistinguishable from Gods.
  3. Oh oh Overclockers Nightmare by Corty · · Score: 4

    Just imagine one real gung-ho Quake3 session with your PC overclocked and your pride and joy will fall appart before your very eyes.

    --
    mv /home/corty/sig.file /dev/null
  4. Economically infeasible by Argy · · Score: 3

    There are several problems with this. Landfilled microcomputers (and monitors and printers and scanners) take a lot of space due to their cases. Ungluing components from the circuit boards would not save any landfill space.

    Then consider the economics. The estimation of "hundreds of dollars" in a computer's components would be absurd for microcomputers, and that must be what the article is talking about if there will be "64 million computers" hitting landfills. If you carefully unglued all the resistors, capacitors, transistors, and chips off a motherboard, they'd be worth nothing, because it would take more work to sort them, test them, ship them, and load them for automated placement than it could possibly be worth. Even new, many of these parts cost around a penny. CPUs are the most expensive part, and you can already unplug them, yet hardly anybody does when the computer is obsolete. And if the components really were valuable, you could "unglue" them today just by heating up the solder.

    Maybe the glue will have some use somewhere, but it's certainly nowhere near the landfill panacea the article portrays.