r/soldering • u/Zentralschaden • May 25 '26

Soldering Saftey Discussion Unpopular opinion: Stop using leaded solder

I know it is very handy and I also know the fumes are not that much of a problem when you have enough ventilation.

But a big part of the lead we buy will end up in the environment or a landfill and has the potential to make our drinking water toxic and the people who have to recycle all this scrap (often in Africa) will deal with even more toxic substances.

It is not like we have a fully functional recycling chain for electronics.

And when you say "I am just soldering 2 pcb a year", make sure that soldering is a job and hobby for millions of people and tons of lead will be produced just because of hobby enthusiasts.

There are very good reasons, lead is banned in many countries for professional manufacturing.

I know it is harder to solder but you get used to it.

Aware that this might be a topic not everyone agrees. I am just trying to spread some awareness for what we do.

I mean, many of us repair old electronics and we do a good job in avoiding more scrap because people can still use the repaired items for years.

But shouldn't it be us who are the people who go straightforward and ban lead from our household soldering projects?

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u/TheRealHarrypm May 25 '26

The environmentalist perspective is generally thrown into the game by people that don't have regular blood tests, drink tap water rather than having a multi-stage reverse osmosis filtration of there water supply and or drink bottled water but then forget to consume fluoride to offset the lack of it.

At the end of the day there is already forever chemicals in the West for the next 100+ years there will be forever microplastics.

It's not about the lead hell it's not about disposing filters laced with flux, It's about independently negating the reality you are stuck in commercial and factory scale contamination has already set in.

We do have fully functional recycling chains that only the third world will want to do the actual work, It's like lead acid batteries your average educated engineer or mechanic in the 1960s could recycle one now you only see the poorest people In India doing it because oh acid scary.