Recyclers reckon millions of obsolete PCs could yield a small fortune in precious metals

There's gold in them thar piles of old Windows 10 PCs. Quite literally, according to recyclers.

Gold worth more than £1.6 billion could be recovered from UK devices obsoleted when Microsoft discontinues free support on October 14, according to Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) experts at Businesswaste.co.uk.

The eye-popping number comes from taking the UK's share of the global PC market and applying it to the current best guess of how many devices are unable to accept the Windows 11 upgrade, respectively corresponding to 3.6 percent and 400 million devices. This translates to 14.4 million obsolete PCs in the UK.

Then there is the question of device type: in this case, 70 percent laptops and 30 percent desktops, and respective weights of 1.5 and 12 kg.

Finally, there is the question of how much material can be recovered per ton. Businesswaste ...