Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1517668
52 PCB007 MAGAZINE I MARCH 2024 Now, we all know that a PCB and its con- stituents are not good for nature, so we have to look at how we can circle the material back into a new product. That's fascinating to me. I know that PCB particulates, like the fiberglass laminate, can sometimes be ground up and used in things like concrete. But it feels like true circularity with a printed circuit board would be impos- sible. It is not easy to find a true solution. Having said that, promising projects are going on in China and the Western world. In Europe today, we separate the metals, grind down the PCB, and burn the residue to produce electricity. e waste gasses are col- lected and used in agriculture. at is the best we can do today, supported by a reasonably good infrastructure. But this is not the case in all countries, so there's a ways to go. It's not the ultimate solution. e best solution would be to find a PCB material that can go seamlessly back into nature, like Jiva's Soluboard product, or to reuse the waste from a PCB to create a different product. At NCAB, we test materials designed for cir- cularity. Even with a long way to go, it should not stop us from going in that direction. Absolutely. If that stopped us, we wouldn't do a lot of things. What does that infrastructure look like? In Europe, waste from electronic materials is collected and sent out for separation. Today, there is one place in Sweden where the materi- als are sent to separate out the metals. You are le with the residue—some blend of epoxy and fiberglass—which is burnt to create electricity. Of course, you actually use some energy to cre- ate that electricity. Everyone is looking for alternate ways to cre- ate electricity. I love the idea that a printed circuit board, that is, in essence, "dirty," could be used to provide an essential resource. What we need to avoid is PCBs, with or with- out components, going to a landfill. What about recycling of components? I am focusing just on PCBs. But in the IPC Euro- pean standards steering committee (V-ESSC), we talk about those things, such as the reball- ing of BGAs, and the idea of reusing compo- nents, which will require some components to be built somewhat differently to withstand the repair and another soldering process. I believe this is a developing industry. Some alternate materials may make recycling PCBs more feasible, including a plant-based material substrate, but what about thermal reliability and the many stresses that most cir- cuit boards are built to withstand? What are these materials? ere are two material tracks, the FR-4-like and the plant-based, where we will need to accept different properties. FR-4-like: ere are at least two laminate fac- tories in Asia working on material that can be recycled to be used as raw materials in the pro- duction of basically the same laminate. With these materials, we are already at a stage where Jan Pedersen