E-Waste & PC Board Prices and Buying Guide Rates

Many businesses and individuals feel lost regarding current e-waste and PC board prices, often tossing valuable old electronics into general waste without realising their true market value. If you are clearing out an office, upgrading corporate servers, or recycling outdated tech, this guide breaks down exactly what your circuit boards are worth and how to maximize your return from electronic waste recycling.

• Average payouts: Scrap PC boards typically sell for between R1.50 and R90 per kilogram, while specialised components like RAM can fetch up to R90 per kilogram.
• Items accepted: We recycle computer motherboards, server racks, telecommunications equipment, RAM, CPUs, and mixed electronic waste.
• Legal requirements: E-waste disposal must strictly comply with the National Environmental Management: Waste Act 59 of 2008.
• Service areas: Commercial e-waste collection spans and the wider.
• Payment methods: Payouts are processed securely via EFT directly into your business or personal bank account in compliance with scrap trading laws.

2026 E-Waste & PC Board Scrap Prices per Kilogram

Circuit boards contain varying amounts of precious metals, which directly determines their grade and scrap value. Corporate IT upgrades in areas like often yield high-grade server boards, while general household cleanouts produce medium to low-grade consumer electronics.

Below is a comprehensive breakdown of our current scrap metal prices for different categories of electronic waste.

CPU processors typically command the highest per-kilogram rates in the electronic waste sector—often ranging from R70 to R90 per kilogram depending on whether they are ceramic or fibre-based. Because of their lightweight nature, gathering bulk quantities is essential for large payouts, so it helps to estimate your load with our calculator before you sell.

Understanding Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Grades

We classify circuit boards into distinct grades based on their precious metal yield. These grades determine the prices we pay for your electronic waste, with densely packed, gold-rich boards commanding premium market rates.

High A+ Grade PCBs (Servers and Telecoms)

High A+ Grade PCBs represent the premium tier of urban mining. These circuit boards contain the highest concentrations of gold, silver, and palladium. We find these highly valuable components primarily in data centre servers, telecommunications networks, and advanced military or medical hardware.

The gold content in these premium boards is among the highest of any e-waste, making them especially sought-after at our yard. Major corporations running IT infrastructure industrial parks typically generate these boards during massive equipment upgrades.

High B Grade and Medium Grade Boards

High B Grade circuit boards come from standard desktop computers and daily networking equipment. These older motherboards still fetch highly competitive prices because they hold dense copper layers and visible gold plating on their connector pins.

Medium Grade boards represent the next tier down. They include components from standard printers, modems, and basic office electronics. While they contain less precious metal than server boards, gathering them in bulk from office clearances still contributes significantly to profitable sustainable recycling practices.

Common E-Waste Components Accepted for Recycling

Beyond standard green circuit boards, a complete electronic waste management strategy involves recovering multiple types of hardware. When stripping old IT equipment, look out for the following valuable items:

• Gold-fingered RAM: Memory sticks with thick gold edge contacts.
• Ceramic CPUs: Older processors that contain high volumes of recoverable gold wiring.
• Hard Drive Boards: The small logic boards attached to the bottom of standard mechanical hard drives.
• Insulated Copper Wire: Ribbon cables, power cords, and CAT5/CAT6 networking cables.
• Aluminium Heatsinks: The metal cooling blocks attached directly above computer processors.

Factors That Influence E-Waste Prices

Several global and local elements dictate the final value you receive for your electronic scrap. We examine precious metal markets, extraction costs, and material purity to establish fair pricing.

Global Precious Metal Markets

Circuit board values are inextricably linked to the global trading prices of gold, silver, platinum, and copper. When the London Metal Exchange (LME) sees a spike in gold prices, the payout for High A+ Grade and B Grade motherboards directly increases at our yard.

Component Density and Device Age

The manufacturing date of your electronic waste plays a massive role in its valuation. Vintage electronics and older mainframe computers generally contain thicker gold plating and more recoverable precious metals per unit than modern, highly efficient devices.

Conversely, modern smartphones pack high concentrations of palladium and gold into incredibly small spaces, making smartphone motherboards highly valuable despite their negligible weight.

How to Sell E-Waste

You can sell your e-waste and computer scrap to us directly: we provide streamlined electronic waste disposal solutions for both businesses and private collectors. Our transparent grading process ensures you get paid accurately for the exact quality of boards you supply.

Local Drop-Off Locations

Our main e-waste recycling facility accepts circuit boards and electronic components from industrial hubs like,. Customers from residential suburbs such as and can also deliver sorted e-waste directly to our scales.

Sorting your green boards, RAM, and cables into separate bins before arriving at our yard ensures a faster weighing process and prevents your premium A+ boards from being accidentally mixed and priced as medium-grade scrap.

Requesting a Commercial E-Waste Pickup Service

For large-scale corporate IT clear-outs, transporting heavy server racks and hundreds of desktop computers is a logistical challenge. We offer dedicated pickup services.

Our fleet manages factory clearances, office building tech upgrades, and warehouse cleanups. By scheduling a bulk collection, corporate entities ensure their old hardware is securely removed, accurately weighed, and responsibly recycled without disrupting their daily operations.

The Environmental Impact and Legal Compliance

We must handle electronic waste through licensed channels. Illegal dumping of circuit boards leads to heavy metals like lead, mercury, and cadmium leaching into soil and groundwater systems.

Legal Compliance

Beyond environmental protection, proper electronic waste disposal keeps businesses compliant with the National Environmental Management: Waste Act (NEM:WA). law strictly prohibits the disposal of e-waste into standard municipal landfills.

Bringing your e-waste to us protects your business from massive environmental fines. Furthermore, Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulations now hold manufacturers accountable for their hardware's entire lifecycle, driving the national shift toward a sustainable circular economy.

Frequently asked questions

What is electronic waste and why are PC boards valuable?

Electronic waste (e-waste) encompasses discarded IT equipment. PC boards are valuable because they contain a matrix of precious metals, including gold, silver, palladium, and copper, which can be extracted through urban mining and resold to manufacturers.

How can I get the best price for my old circuit boards?

To maximize your payout, physically remove low-value attachments like aluminium heatsinks, steel brackets, and batteries from the motherboard. Any lithium or solar cells you remove are worth checking against our lithium and solar battery prices. Clean, stripped circuit boards always command top-tier pricing compared to boards cluttered with ferrous metals.

What role does Extended Producer Responsibility play in e-waste?

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is a legislative framework that forces electronics manufacturers to fund and manage the end-of-life recycling processes of their products, ensuring sustainable waste management.

Do you buy complete desktop computers or just the boards?

We purchase both. However, selling a fully assembled PC tower yields a lower bulk rate (typically R1.60-R6.00 per kg). If you open the tower and separate the motherboard, RAM, hard drive board, and power supply, you will drastically increase your total profit.

How do businesses ensure data security when recycling e-waste?

We physically destroy hard drives and solid-state drives (SSDs) before extracting their precious metals. This guarantees that sensitive corporate data cannot be recovered by third parties after disposal.