Beryllium

Found in:

• Springs, relays, clips and connections on boards where flexibility in copper is needed
• copper-beryllium alloy (typically 98% copper, 2% beryllium)

Impacts:

Beryllium = known human carcinogen

Beryllium dust (from shredding) & fumes (from high temp metal refining processes) can cause berylliosis with permanent lung scarring, and can be fatal.

References

1. http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/hlthef/berylliu.html