Polycrystalline diamond compacts (PDC) are used in many industrial applications, such as down hole drill bits or sliding bearings in the Oil and Gas Industry. Since a PDC consists on the one side of materials, which are critical due to their economic importance respectively the supply risk (relative concentration of production per country), and on the other side has a very high purchase price, its recycling is discussed in this thesis. The manufacturing of a PDC and the potential recycling technologies for a PDC are described in detail. An economic investigation of material recycling by analyzing the recycling of mud bearings as a specific example shows the potential of the material recycling and helps also to determine the value creation during the manufacturing process of a PDC.