In rare earth metals power struggle with China, old laptops, phones may get a new life

As the U.S. and China vie for economic, technological and geopolitical supremacy, the captious elements and metals embedded successful exertion from user to concern and subject markets person go a pawn successful the wider conflict. That's obscurity much truthful the lawsuit than successful China's leverage implicit the uncommon world metals proviso chain. This past week, the Department of Defense took a ample equity stake successful MP Materials, the institution moving the lone uncommon earths mining cognition successful the U.S.

But there's different enactment to combat the uncommon earths shortage that goes backmost to an older idea: recycling. The concern has travel a agelong mode from collecting cans, bottles, plastic, paper and different user disposables, different destined for landfills, to recreate each sorts of caller products.

Today, next-generation recyclers — a premix of bequest companies and startups — are innovating ways to stitchery and process the ever-growing mountains of physics waste, oregon e-waste, which comprises end-of-life and discarded computers, smartphones, servers, TVs, appliances, aesculapian devices, and different electronics and IT equipment. And they are doing truthful successful a mode that is aligned to the newest captious technologies successful society. Most recently, spent EV batteries, upwind turbines and star panels are fostering a burgeoning recycling niche.

The e-waste recycling accidental isn't constricted to uncommon world elements. Any electronics that can't beryllium wholly refurbished and resold, oregon cannibalized for replacement parts needed to support existing electronics up and running, tin berecycled to portion retired gold, silver, copper, nickel, steel, aluminum, lithium, cobalt and different metals captious to manufacturers successful assorted industries. But increasingly, recyclers are extracting rare-earth elements, specified arsenic neodymium, praseodymium, terbium and dysprosium, which are captious successful making everything from combatant jets to powerfulness tools.

"Recycling [of e-waste] hasn't been taken excessively seriously until recently" arsenic a meaningful root of supply, said Kunal Sinha, planetary caput of recycling astatine Swiss-based Glencore, a large miner, shaper and marketer of metals and minerals — and, to a overmuch lesser but increasing degree, an e-waste recycler. "A batch of radical are inactive sleeping astatine the instrumentality and don't recognize however large this tin be," Sinha said. 

Traditionally, U.S. manufacturers acquisition indispensable metals and uncommon earths from home and overseas producers — an inordinate fig based successful China — that fabricate mined earthy materials, oregon done commodities traders. But with those proviso chains present disrupted by unpredictable tariffs, commercialized policies and geopolitics, the marketplace for recycled e-waste is gaining value arsenic a mode to provender the insatiable electrification of everything.

"The United States imports a batch of electronics, and each of that is coming with golden and aluminum and steel," said John Mitchell, president and CEO of the Global Electronics Association, an manufacture commercialized group. "So there's a large accidental to really person the tariffs beryllium an impetus for greater recycling successful this state for goods that we don't have, but are buying from different countries."

With copper, different metals, 'recycling is going to play immense role'

Although recycling contributes lone astir $200 cardinal to Glencore's full EBITDA of astir $14 billion, the strategical attraction and clip the concern gets from enactment "is overmuch much than that percentage," Sinha said. "We judge that a batch of mining is indispensable to get to each the copper, golden and different metals that are needed, but we besides admit that recycling is going to play a immense role," helium said.

Glencore has operated a immense copper smelter successful Quebec, Canada, for almost  20 years connected a tract that's astir 100-years-old. The installation processes mostly mined copper concentrates, though 15% of its feedstock is recyclable materials, specified as e-waste that Glencore's planetary web of 100-plus suppliers collect and sort. The smelter pioneered the process for recovering copper and precious metals from e-waste successful the mid 1980s, making it 1 of the archetypal and largest of its benignant successful the world. The smelted copper is refined into caller slabs that are sold to manufacturers and traders. The aforesaid installation besides produces refined gold, silver, platinum and palladium recovered from recycling feeds. 

The value of copper to OEMs' proviso chains was magnified successful aboriginal July, erstwhile prices deed an all-time high aft President Trump said helium would enforce a 50% tariff connected imports of the metal. The U.S. imports conscionable nether fractional of its copper, and the tariff hike — similar different caller Trump commercialized policies — is intended to boost home production.

Price of copper year-to-date 2025.

It takes astir 3 decades for a caller excavation successful the U.S. to determination from find to production, which makes recycled copper look each the much attractive, particularly arsenic request keeps rising. According to estimates by energy-data steadfast Wood Mackenzie, 45% of request volition beryllium met with recycled copper by 2050, up from astir a 3rd today.

Foreign recycling companies person begun investing successful the U.S.-based facilities. In 2022, Germany's Wieland broke crushed connected a $100-million copper and copper alloy recycling works successful Shelbyville, Kentucky. Last year, different German firm, Aurubis, started operation connected an $800-million multi-metal recycling installation successful Augusta, Georgia.

"As the archetypal large secondary smelter of its benignant successful the U.S., Aurubis Richmond volition let america to support strategically important metals successful the economy, making U.S. proviso chains much independent," said Aurubis CEO Toralf Haag.

Massive amounts of e-waste

The proliferation of e-waste tin beryllium traced backmost to the 1990s, erstwhile the net gave commencement to the integer economy, spawning exponential maturation successful electronically enabled products. The inclination has been supercharged by the emergence of renewable energy, e-mobility, artificial quality and the build-out of information centers. That translates to a changeless turnover of devices and equipment, and monolithic amounts of e-waste.

In 2022, a grounds 62 cardinal metric tons of e-waste were produced globally, up 82% from 2010, according to the most caller estimates from the United Nations' International Telecommunications Union and probe limb UNITAR. That fig is projected to scope 82 cardinal metric tons by 2030.

The U.S., the study said, produced conscionable shy of 8 cardinal tons of e-waste successful 2022. Yet lone astir 15-20% of it is decently recycled, a fig that illustrates the untapped marketplace for e-waste retrievables. The e-waste recycling manufacture generated $28.1 cardinal successful gross successful 2024, according to IBISWorld, with a projected compound yearly maturation complaint of 8%.

Whether it's refurbished and resold oregon recycled for metals and rare-earths, e-waste that stores information — particularly smartphones, computers, servers and immoderate aesculapian devices — indispensable beryllium wiped of delicate accusation to comply with cybersecurity and biology regulations. The service, referred to arsenic IT plus disposition (ITAD), is offered by accepted discarded and recycling companies, including Waste Management, Republic Services and Clean Harbors, arsenic good arsenic specialists specified arsenic Sims Lifecycle Services, Electronic Recyclers International, All Green Electronics Recycling and Full Circle Electronics.

"We're decidedly seeing a spot of an influx of [e-waste] coming into our warehouses," said Full Circle Electronics CEO Dave Daily, adding, "I deliberation that is owed to immoderate aboriginal refresh cycles."

That's a notation to businesses and consumers choosing to get up of the customary three-year clip framework for purchasing caller electronics, and discarding aged stuff, successful anticipation of tariff-related terms increases.

Daily besides is witnessing accrued request among downstream recyclers for e-waste Full Circle Electronics can't refurbish and merchantability astatine wholesale. The institution dismantles and separates it into 40 oregon 50 antithetic types of material, from keyboards and mice to circuit boards, wires and cables. Recyclers harvest those items for metals and uncommon earths, which proceed to spell up successful terms connected commodities markets, earlier reentering the proviso concatenation arsenic halfway earthy materials.

Even earlier the Trump administration's efforts to revitalize American manufacturing by reworking commercialized deals, and caller changes successful taxation credits cardinal to the manufacture successful Trump's taxation and spending bill, entrepreneurs person been launching e-waste recycling startups and processing technologies to process them for home OEMs.

"Many regions of the satellite person been benignant of lazy astir processing e-waste, truthful a batch of it goes offshore," Sinha said. In effect to that imbalance, "There seems to beryllium a inclination of nationalizing e-waste, due to the fact that radical abruptly recognize that we person the aforesaid metals [they've] been looking for" from overseas sources, helium said. "People person been rethinking the planetary proviso chain, that they're excessively agelong and request to beryllium much localized." 

China commands 90% of uncommon world market

Several startups thin to absorption connected a peculiar benignant of e-waste. Lately, uncommon earths person garnered tremendous attention, not conscionable due to the fact that they're successful precocious request by U.S. electronics manufacturers but besides to lessen dependence connected China, which dominates mining, processing and refining of the materials. In the accumulation of rare-earth magnets — utilized successful EVs, drones, user electronics, aesculapian devices, upwind turbines, subject weapons and different products — China commands astir 90% of the planetary proviso chain.

The lingering U.S.–China commercialized warfare has lone exacerbated the disparity. In April, China restricted exports of 7 uncommon earths and related magnets successful retaliation for U.S. tariffs, a determination that forced Ford to unopen down factories due to the fact that of magnet shortages. China, successful mid-June, issued impermanent six-month licenses to definite large U.S. automaker suppliers and prime firms. Exports are flowing again, but with delays and inactive good beneath highest levels.

The U.S. is attempting to drawback up. Before this past week's Trump medication deal, the Biden medication awarded $45 cardinal successful backing to MP Materials and the nation's lone uncommon earths mine, successful Mountain Pass, California. Back successful April, the Interior Department approved improvement activities astatine the Colosseum uncommon earths project, located wrong California's Mojave National Preserve. The project, owned by Australia's Dateline Resources, volition perchance go America's 2nd uncommon world excavation aft Mountain Pass. 

Meanwhile, respective recycling startups are extracting uncommon earths from e-waste. Illumynt has an precocious process for recovering them from decommissioned hard drives procured from information centers. In April, hard thrust shaper Western Digital announced a collaboration with Microsoft, Critical Materials Recycling and PedalPoint Recycling to propulsion uncommon earths, arsenic good arsenic copper, gold, aluminum and steel, from end-of-life drives.

Canadian-based Cyclic Materials invented a process that recovers rare-earths and different metals from EV motors, upwind turbines, MRI machines and data-center e-scrap. The institution is investing much than $20 cardinal to physique its archetypal U.S.-based installation successful Mesa, Arizona. Late past year, Glencore signed a multiyear statement with Cyclic to supply recycled copper for its smelting and refining operations.

Another blistery feedstock for e-waste recyclers is end-of-life lithium-ion batteries, a root of not lone lithium but besides copper, cobalt, nickel, manganese and aluminum. Those materials are indispensable for manufacturing caller EV batteries, which the Big Three automakers are heavy invested in. Their projects, however, are threatened by imaginable reductions successful the Biden-era 45X accumulation taxation credit, featured successful the caller national spending bill.

It's excessively soon to cognize however that mightiness interaction artillery recyclers — including Ascend Elements, American Battery Technology, Cirba Solutions and Redwood Materials — who themselves suffice for the 45X and different taxation credits. They mightiness really beryllium aided by different provisions successful the fund measure that payment a home proviso concatenation of captious minerals arsenic a mode to undercut China's dominance of the planetary market.

Nonetheless, that looming uncertainty should beryllium a informing motion for e-waste recyclers, said Sinha. "Be cautious not to physique a recycling institution connected the backmost of 1 taxation credit," helium said, "because it tin beryllium short-lived."

Investing successful recyclers tin beryllium precarious, too, Sinha said. While he's blessed to spot recycling getting its owed arsenic a meaningful root of supply, helium cautions radical to beryllium cautious erstwhile investing successful this space. Startups whitethorn person developed caller technologies, but deficiency bully capable concern fundamentals. "Don't put connected the hype," helium said, "but connected the fundamentals."

Glencore, ironically enough, is simply a lawsuit successful point. It has invested $327.5 cardinal successful convertible notes successful artillery recycler Li-Cycle to supply feedstock for its smelter. The Toronto-based startup had breached crushed connected a caller installation successful Rochester, New York, but ran into fiscal difficulties and filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy extortion successful May, prompting Glencore to taxable a "stalking horse" recognition bid of astatine slightest $40 cardinal for the stalled task and different assets.

Even so, "the existent situation volition pb to much startups and investments" successful e-waste recycling, Sinha said. "We are investing ourselves."