Platinum in electronic waste

8 components in this guide contain platinum. Spot price as of 4 Aug 2026: $1,717 per troy ounce ($55.2 per gram).

Richest sources by weight

Component	Platinum per lb	Value per lb	Tier
Laboratory Platinum Ware	454 g	$25,062	S
Noble Thermocouple Wire (Type R/S/B)	410 g	$22,633	S
Hard drive platters	0.25 g	$13.8	D
Spark plugs	0.08 g	$4.42	D
Platinum RTD Probes (Pt100/Pt1000)	0.055 g	$3.04	D
Oxygen / lambda sensors	0.052 g	$2.87	D
MAF, MAP, knock, crank & cam sensors	0.012 g	$0.66	D

These are yields per pound of that material, not per pound of whatever it came out of. That distinction is the single most common source of inflated figures online.

Everything containing platinum

Laboratory Platinum Ware Other · $20000–32000/lb Pt ~454 g/lb — it is solid metalAu 5% in Pt-5%Au XRF fusion cruciblesBase Rh 5–10% in Pt-Rh crucibles S Noble Thermocouple Wire (Type R/S/B) Other · $18000–31000/lb Pt ~410 g per lb of bare noble wireBase Rh 6–30% of one legBase Type K/J/T/E/N: zero PGM S Precious-Metal Sputtering Targets Other · $32000–50000/lb Au ~454 g/lb — the target is solid metalPt 138 g in a 2 in × 0.125 in discPd 77 g in a 2 in × 0.125 in disc S Hard drive platters Drives & media · $10–11/lb Pt 1–2.2 mg per 3.5" platterBase 10–16 g aluminium each D MAF, MAP, knock, crank & cam sensors Automotive · $1–4/lb Pt 0.5–2 mg per hot-wire MAFAu 0.003–0.010 g per MAF boardAg 10–40 mg thick-film paste on MAP hybridsNd magnets in Hall-type crank/cam sensors D Oxygen / lambda sensors Automotive · $2–5/lb Pt 13 mg per sensor (≈0.05 g/lb)Cu 8–20 g in the leadBase steel body D Platinum RTD Probes (Pt100/Pt1000) Other · $45–200/lb Pt ~30–80 mg per lb of complete probesBase 0.9–0.99 lb/lb 316SS or Inconel sheathPt SPRT: 15–30 g per unit D Spark plugs Automotive · $0.5–2/lb Pt 1–8 mg per plugBase iridium 0.6–3 mg on Ir plugs D