if the electronics section at the recycle area of the transfer station let you just take stuff it might be a bit better but I’d wonder how much the labour is worth. The electroplating guy at one of my old jobs tried doing it by buying bulk gold plated ewaste and it was break even at best even with the cheaper prices he could get with the chem supplier at work. I remember him being disappointed with how much plating he could do with the recovered gold from a uline garbage bin of clipped pcb ends.
That’s what I was also wondering.
But consider the stupid amount of pcbs in electronics some have hoarded in the basement, buying the chemicals probably isnt that far of.
if the electronics section at the recycle area of the transfer station let you just take stuff it might be a bit better but I’d wonder how much the labour is worth. The electroplating guy at one of my old jobs tried doing it by buying bulk gold plated ewaste and it was break even at best even with the cheaper prices he could get with the chem supplier at work. I remember him being disappointed with how much plating he could do with the recovered gold from a uline garbage bin of clipped pcb ends.