A very good post. As a small aside, I believe DVDs and other such discs use aluminum, not silver.
I don’t know for certain, except that if there were silver in them, they’d be recycled.
Aluminum won't work for DVDs ... not reflective enough. Given its relatively high cost (several dollars per ounce vs. a few dollars per pound) almost all of Ag's commercial applications depend entirely on its unique properties.
Not enough Ag to be economical to recycle. Think twenty cents worth of silver that cost two dollars to get out.