Fairly recently and perhaps because of complaints of the third world countries that it affects most, laws have been enforced and passed to prevent lower grade e-waste being sent overseas from the US. E-Waste refineries used to be able to cherry pick the very best boards, sending the lower grade boards overseas. Because of new restrictions, and new licensing requirements, these refineries are now required to process all the material they receive instead of cherry picking only the very best. This brings down the percentages that are being seen today.
I posted on another thread about plating, and a good book to read about the subject. Plating has not really changed at all in recent times, this is because in order to be useful, it must be a certain thickness and carry a certain electrical load. So it's not the plating, it's the fact that e-waste recyclers are now required by law to process material they otherwise would choose not to.
Here are some interesting videos on what this type of processing has caused in the past for other countries receiving the United States unwanted E-Waste.
And this is probably the best report by 60 minutes.
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4586903n
An interesting side note, I am being offered material I was never offered before because the refineries that are currently processing the e-scrap are 8 weeks backlogged on most accounts. This will also decrease the value placed on this type of material as the refineries that process it, have too much and the recycling industry is probably decades behind ramping up to deal with it.
Scott
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