Abstract Although printed electronics are a more sustainable option than conventional electronics, proper treatment of printed electronics in their end-of-life phase is crucial to decrease their overall environmental impacts and ensure the materials specifically the metal fraction of printed electronics are recovered. Thus, to investigate the state of the art regarding the research and development of material recovery from printed electronics, this study performed a literature review process. It is figured out that the majority of the observed articles rather not mention specifically what is recycling option for recycling the printed electronics or introduced a novel recycling method for the metal ink. Only a marginal fraction of the articles covered proper recycling methods for the metal fraction of printed electronics. Then based on the literature review process, this study investigates the suitability of the current waste management system to recover different fractions of printed electronics products.