Electronics recycling is having a moment. Can you guess the undercurrent?
Much of it is artificial intelligence/AI.
Recycling your obsolete lab equipment has always been an act of good environmental stewardship. That’s even truer now that mining is ramping up globally to supply raw materials for AI infrastructure. The increased demand is a call to lean into e-waste recycling services as an eco-friendlier alternative.
When a piece of lab equipment can’t reasonably be refurbished for use by other scientists, it can still be reincarnated. I’m co-opting this sentiment from the Nature Technology feature, The hackers teaching old DNA sequencers new tricks, and this great blog post, Do Mass Spectrometers go to heaven? The point is that e-waste recycling is an avenue for lab instruments in the great beyond. This disposal option is a good thing to keep in mind when you are speaking with a vendor about replacing obsolete lab equipment with new. In other situations, you can look for local electronic waste recyclers with certifications to process medical equipment, since decontamination is a key step.
E-waste is under the microscope, pardon the pun. Although the recycling rates of lab equipment are not reported specifically, it is known that e-waste recycling is broadly underutilized. The United Nations Institute for Training and Research’s Global e-waste Monitor reports that e-waste volumes are rising five times faster than documented e-waste recycling. Large equipment in general has better recycling rates compared to smaller items; that said, an estimated 10 billion kg of all large equipment is not documented as recycled annually. Little wonder, since e-waste recycling is expensive and inconvenient in most parts of the world. It’s a shame because you have to hope that, at a minimum, electronics with old-style monitors are disposed of responsibly to prevent the release of neurotoxins and carcinogens from cathode-ray tubes into the environment. The interesting convergence is that the expansion of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) recycling systems will be welcomed by both environmentalists and industrialists.
AI is Driving Demand for New Mines, but also for E-waste Recycling
AI is a powerful technology, poised to uplift industries, including the life sciences. Biologists have adopted AI tools to help with things like predicting protein interactions, analysing experimental results, and scientific writing. (This very post was partially written using AI carefully guided by yours truly.) Artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics systems are also emerging to replace manual work in automating assays and handling waste streams, including hazardous waste streams from biomedical facilities.
The catch is that AI is resource-intensive. AI’s massive energy requirements seem to get the most attention. Yet, awareness is growing that materials like copper, aluminum, precious metals, and rare earth materials are also constraints in expanding AI datacenters. Copper is extensively used for wiring, heat sinks, and power distribution. Gold and palladium are commonly found in connectors, circuit boards, and processors, while silver is used in solder and contacts. Platinum may be used in hard drives and specialized components. These metals are all critical to the performance and durability of the hardware that powers AI workloads.
The UN Trade & Development body’s report, Global Trade Update (May 2025): Focus on critical minerals – copper in the new green and digital economy, predicts that global copper demand will grow by over 40% by 2040, and that meeting this demand may require eighty new mines in the next five years. New guidance to minimize environmental damage and restore ecosystems is built into updates coming to some nations’ regulations. Unfortunately, controls for hazardous air pollutants and hazardous mineral processing waste are not yet universal. The top regions with large-scale copper mining environmental damage include Chile, Zambia, Peru, Kazakhstan, and a notorious former copper mine turned superfund site, the Berkeley pit in Montana. The question hanging in the air is, what kind of environmental damage could happen in the race to open eighty new mines?
This open-pit copper mine in Peru represents the most common approach. Eighty new copper mines are predicted to meet demand by 2030.
Fortunately, improvements to e-waste recycling efforts that can mitigate environmental damage and reduce costs is gaining momentum. Categorically, metals are attractive recyclables. For example, recycling copper uses up to 85% less energy than mining and refining new copper, and using recycled copper can reduce electronics production costs up to 40%, according to the International Copper Association. Rare earth element recycling is more difficult than metal recycling and eventually leads to degradation. Again, rare earth recycling is less destructive than mining, and the recovered material is less expensive.
Surging global demand for raw materials to support AI has prompted lawmakers in Europe, Asia-Pacific, and North America to increase investments in e-waste recycling, urban mining hubs, and innovation. Europe and Japan have led the way in urban mining. Researchers have reported that formalizing the e-waste sector in Southeast Asia will improve environmental outcomes. Leading-edge researchers are developing systems that combine robotics and AI to improve e-waste disassembly, i.e, the iDEAR project at Germany’s Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft.
It just so happens that many raw materials sought after to support AI infrastructure are also vital components in scientific laboratory instruments that biologists are familiar with.
Which types of scientific lab equipment contain valuable raw materials for recycling?
Here is a list of instrument categories containing relatively higher amounts of raw materials in high demand. Copper is common to all electronic wiring and circuit boards. Stainless steel, aluminum, and titanium are common to machine frames, shielding, and mechanical fasteners. The nuts and bolts, so to speak. Small amounts of precious metals and rare earth minerals are in semiconductors, capacitors, and resistors, and these can also be in critical, functional core components of instruments.
Mass Spectrometers - contain gold connectors in vacuum chamber electronics as well as palladium-containing sensors and electrodes. Rare earth materials are used in magnets and ion optics. RF (radiofrequency) coils often contain copper or silver. Platinum is used in electron ionization sources. Titanium is also used in vacuum systems.
Electron Microscopes - contain rare earth magnets used in electron beam focusing systems and detectors. Copper coils are used in electromagnetic lenses, and copper heat sinks are paired with electron guns or detectors.
DNA Sequencers - contain gold-plated connectors and optical detection systems to minimize electrical noise and improve the accuracy of signal detection.
Thermo Cyclers - Real-Time PCR often incorporate gold-plated connectors for fluorescence detection systems. High-end machines use gold-plated heating blocks. Rare earth magnets are used in motors and sensors.
HPLC Systems - Specialized high-performance liquid chromatography systems may use platinum or gold in electrochemical detectors. Copper is not in core systems due to reactivity. Hybrid MPLC-MS or HPLC with laser-induced fluorescence may contain rare earth minerals.
Incubators - Thermocouple temperature sensors use platinum and rhodium. Oxygen sensors may incorporate platinum, palladium, and rhodium.
Safe Disposal with Resource Recovery is a Good End-of-Life Goal
Objectively, recovery of raw materials represents a secondary environmental benefit. The priority is safe disposal. Consider if the equipment was exposed to radioactive, biohazardous, and chemically hazardous materials. Always consult with environmental, health, and safety professionals to properly document lab equipment disposal and hazardous waste. Check with your vendor for recycling options when buying new equipment. Consider whether an older instrument can be refurbished or donated. If you’re not replacing with new, contact local services that specialize in medical equipment recycling. Be aware going in that specific decontamination steps may be required, depending on the equipment type and service provider.
We hope this list is helpful for biologists to think about in practice. Thanks for being “Labconscious”!