Recycle Cost / Profit of PCB from USB Flash Drive

admin March 19, 2025 News Room

To recycle a PCB (Printed Circuit Board) from a flash drive depends on a couple of key factors. Most important are the materials used when making the PCB and the available recycling processes once the old USB flash drive is sent for recycling.

Not that many are super interested in this, but here is the breakdown for recycling a printed circuit board from a USB flash drive:

A flash drive’s PCB is mostly made up several key materials where each material serves a specific purpose in it’s operation. Most of the device, about 60–70% consists of fiberglass or epoxy resin, which provides structural integrity. Copper traces and layers inside the PCB, making up 10–20% of the product and used as electrical conductivity for the electronics product. Additionally, electronic components such as integrated circuits (ICs), capacitors, and resistors account for 10–15% of the board’s composition – this plays a crucial role in data storage and processing. The remaining 5–10% consists of various other materials like gold plating, solder, and adhesives, which contribute to connectivity, durability, and assembly.

Recycle Cost / Profit of PCB from USB Flash Drive

When recycling a USB flash drive only certain materials are truly recoverable.

Copper, which makes up about 10–20% of the PCB, is highly recyclable and is often extracted during the recycling process.

Gold, though only about 1% of the board, is valuable and found in connectors and contact pads, BUT requires specialized methods for recovery.

Silver, present in trace amounts, can sometimes be found in solder or coatings and is also recoverable.

Electronic components, which constitute 10–15% of the PCB, can sometimes be desoldered and reused, though most are shredded and smelted to extract precious metals. However, fiberglass and epoxy resin, making up the majority (60–70%) of the PCB, are difficult to recycle and typically end up as waste or are repurposed as filler material.

For example, during the PCB recycling process, copper is often separated using a combination of mechanical shredding and chemical treatments, allowing it to be melted down and reused in new electronics or wiring applications.

On average, only 20–40% of a flash drive PCB is truly recyclable, the remaining 60–80%, is difficult to recycle and often ends up as waste or is repurposed in low-grade applications. The cost of recycling the recyclable portion varies based on several factors, including collection, processing, extraction, and refining . Each stage requires specialized equipment and labor, which significantly impacts the overall expense of the recycling process.

The cost of recycling a flash drive PCB is really high and most times just not worth it. Costs includes:

Collection and sorting is the first stage, costing between $0.10 and $0.50 per unit , and includes transportation, labor for sorting, and pre-processing.

Once collected, the PCBs undergo shredding and mechanical separation, which costs $0.20 to $0.80 per unit. In this process, the boards are broken down into small pieces, and materials are separated using magnetic and density-based methods.

Fine gold and copper particles often require additional processing due to high energy consumption.

The hard part: chemical extraction (hydrometallurgy) is used to recover the valuable metals. Chemical extration include complicated methods like acid leaching, electrolysis, and solvent recovery. This method is costly, ranging from $1.50 to $3.50 per unit and requires careful handling of hazardous chemicals like cyanide or nitric acid to prevent environmental damage. Smelting and refining (pyrometallurgy), which costs between $1.00 and $4.00 per unit, uses high-temperature smelting to extract metals. However, this method is energy-intensive and requires emissions control and slag management to minimize environmental impact.

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The revenue generated from recovering materials in a flash drive PCB is relatively low compared to the high cost of recycling.

Gold, which constitutes around 1% of the PCB, can yield approximately $50 to $200 per kilogram, translating to $0.05 to $0.20 per flash drive.

Copper, making up 10–20% of the PCB, brings in around $8 to $15 per kilogram, or roughly $0.01 to $0.05 per unit.

Silver, present only in trace amounts, contributes between $0.02 and $0.10 per flash drive, while other valuable materials like palladium generate an additional $0.01 to $0.05 per unit.

In total, the revenue per PCB is estimated to be between $0.10 and $0.40, which is significantly lower than the recycling costs, leading to a net loss of approximately $2.40 to $8.40 per unit.

So, with actual recycling of a USB flash drive is pretty much always more expensive than other “recycling” alternatives such as what we do here at www.recycleusb.com which is repurpose the drives for less fortunate kids who can use the media as a portable operating system.

RecycleUSB.com does not do this specifically, but have partnered with Sugarlabs.org who does the fulfillment of redistrubtion of the USB flash drive media.

Check out our donate page if you have a lot of media you need to donate.

Since our last post, here are those who’ve so graciously donated