Artificial intelligence approach for waste-printed circuit board recycling: a systematic review

The rapid advancement of technology has led to a substantial increase in Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), which poses significant environmental threats and increases pressure on the planet’s limited natural resources. In response, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a key enabler of the Circular Economy (CE), particularly in improving the speed and precision of waste sorting through machine learning and computer vision techniques. Despite this progress, to our knowledge, no comprehensive, systematic review has focused specifically on the role of AI in disassembling and recycling Waste-Printed Circuit Boards (WPCBs). This paper addresses this gap by systematically reviewing recent advancements in AI-driven disassembly and sorting approaches with a focus on machine learning and vision-based methodologies. The review is structured around three areas: (1) the availability and use of datasets for AI-based WPCB recycling; (2) state-of-the-art techniques for selective disassembly and component recognition to enable fast WPCB recycling; and (3) key challenges and possible solutions aimed at enhancing the recovery of critical raw materials (CRMs) from WPCBs.