Conductive Plastics offer EMI Noise Solutions

As far as I know, incorporating electrically conductive (and also usually thermally conductive) fibers/fillers into a polymer matrix -- be it thermoplastic, thermoset, adhesive, etc., was nothing new in the 70's and early 80's, at which time, I guess the industry was at an infancy stage for EMI/RFI technology. Any company producing thermoplastic or thermoset compounds willingly jumped into this burgeoning potential market to get new business. As with any fiber- or filler-reinforced, polymer-matrix composite, one of the early-on problems was the fiber or filler adhesion to the polymer matrix because it affected the mechanical, processing and physical properties of the enclosure. To boost these interfacial-bonding problems, fiber-to-matrix bonding agents like silanes and chemically similar agents were refined to overcome this problem. Aesthetic surface quality was never an issue with EMI/RFI except for later laptops. Primarily only cost vs. the metal alternative, which happens to be always more expensive, was the rule, unless you worked on a Defense project that required unheard of performance criteria. OK. So far I have addressed 80's to 90's technology. Now I would like to know, if possible, the details on the technological advances achieved since. I think this is what you should write about. What's changed? Unfortunately, the price of metals and alloys continues to skyrocket. The price of petro-based plastics and oil has continued to skyrocket. Both at 2X+ per year. Inevitably, it is all tied to the cost of energy required to refine, process, and transport all of these materials. Competition from offshore manufacturing concerns tends to make the "buy where" decision more favorable to offshore companies. Because of the minimized labor remuneration (including degreed engineers), many U.S. multinational companies are super-expanding their operations overseas (up to 2X this year) to offset expenses and optimize profits. That apparently is the economic manufacturing world today.

How easy is it to recycle these plastics? My computer monitor is recyclable, but that doesn't mean that getting rid of it is easy.