A re-usable PCB is a hugely important development if it proves profitable. Some of the most heinously environmentally unfriendly “forever-chemicals” are more or less irreplaceable for use in electronics, in terms of function, price, and raw effectiveness (looking at you, flame-retardants), so reusability would create incentive to reduce waste and therefore our environment’s exposure to pollutants. I could imagine an electronics return-for-cash system, like the extremely effective “pant” system in Scandinavian countries. I believe that the availability and ease of return for empty bottles (automated return stations at virtually every grocery store) is what contributes the lion’s share of the pant system’s effectiveness, so if there were a similar system implemented for electronics, with electronics stores being required to take in any old electronics using these reusable PCBs, I could see it being extremely effective in reducing e-waste.
However, if these new PCB’s aren’t profitable to implement, I’m sure we’ll never see them used in the first place, unfortunately. But it’s definitely something I would use for my own home electronics projects, no question.
The article also mentions a water-soluble PCB at the end. It sounds like an interesting solution to simplify the material/component recovery process (and most likely reduce the cost of material recovery dramatically), but I also wonder how easily and quickly water-soluble PCBs would degrade from humidity.
A re-usable PCB is a hugely important development if it proves profitable. Some of the most heinously environmentally unfriendly “forever-chemicals” are more or less irreplaceable for use in electronics, in terms of function, price, and raw effectiveness (looking at you, flame-retardants), so reusability would create incentive to reduce waste and therefore our environment’s exposure to pollutants. I could imagine an electronics return-for-cash system, like the extremely effective “pant” system in Scandinavian countries. I believe that the availability and ease of return for empty bottles (automated return stations at virtually every grocery store) is what contributes the lion’s share of the pant system’s effectiveness, so if there were a similar system implemented for electronics, with electronics stores being required to take in any old electronics using these reusable PCBs, I could see it being extremely effective in reducing e-waste.
However, if these new PCB’s aren’t profitable to implement, I’m sure we’ll never see them used in the first place, unfortunately. But it’s definitely something I would use for my own home electronics projects, no question.
The article also mentions a water-soluble PCB at the end. It sounds like an interesting solution to simplify the material/component recovery process (and most likely reduce the cost of material recovery dramatically), but I also wonder how easily and quickly water-soluble PCBs would degrade from humidity.