Components can contain up to 1,000 times the material value of their raw materials. In high-tech products, the value is often created by design, precision, assembly, certification and function, not only by the commodity price of the material.
For circular strategy, this means keeping components in use is usually more valuable than recovering raw materials too early. Repair, reuse, refurbishment and harvesting of components can preserve far more value than low-grade recycling.