Quote:
Originally Posted by RobertJSawyer
This is a problem across the consumer-electronics industry. It will take legislation in the US or the EU or Japan requiring consumer-replaceable batteries (as a way of combating the ever-growing problem of otherwise usable electronics ending up in landfill) before manufacturers will address this issue, I think.
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I would think someone coming up with an efficient and profitable materials reclamation process, for electronics, would be a better and more workable solution. (For the SciFi writer, picture a vat of nanobots at the recycle site that would extract the precious metals, pure silicon, and/or other materials that the manufacturers need, use and have applied in a manner consistent with the extraction process.) For the rest of us; the manufacturers adopt the use of a class of plastic/composite that is easily dissolved and returned to a precursor state. Cases and PCB would be dissolved leaving naked components, copper and silver tracings; processing for these might be melting temperature based, with alloys used to make them compliant.
Perhaps these recycling companies would be selling the "toner" for 3D printers that could recreate the devices recycled, or many other devices.
Luck;
Ken
Of course for the EU and Canada, appointing a new set of bureaucrats to hamper production would be the way to go.