Resource efficiency, energy saving as well as circular economy are important aspects for the recycling of materials. Especially in the case of Austria, as the third largest importer of tungsten containing waste and scrap, recycling has a particularly high economic relevance. The most important method for recycling cemented carbides (CC) is the zinc process, a direct recycling method which is known as the currently most frequently used procedure, where CC are disintegrated by a mixture of liquid and vaporous Zn. The formation of intermetallic phases leads to an increase in volume, which expands the structure of the material. The influence of zinc vapor on the destruction of cemented carbides has not yet been investigated to any great extent. In this work, the investigation of the influence of vaporous Zn in the zinc process on cemented carbide specimen with grain growth inhibitors (GGI) (VC and Cr3C2) is carried out. The maximum yields are obtained for VC at long duration and high temperatures independent of the VC content and for Cr3C2 at long holding time, a high temperature and low Cr3C2 content. Furthermore, the yields obtained for VC are almost twice as high as for Cr3C2. The separation oft the WC grains from the unreacted core takes place in lamellar form. Furthermore, no dissolution of GGI in the binder can be observed.