How a change in recycling can beat China’s rare earths monopoly
The article discusses the potential for the United States to reduce its reliance on China's rare earths monopoly through improved recycling practices. It highlights the importance of extracting valuable rare earth elements from electronic waste, which is often discarded. The Department of Energy is promoting research and funding to enhance domestic recycling efforts and ensure a reliable supply chain for these critical minerals.
- ▪China currently dominates the rare earth minerals market, exporting over 90 percent of these crucial elements.
- ▪The U.S. Department of Energy has announced a $500 million funding opportunity to encourage research on recycling and processing domestic critical minerals.
- ▪California has implemented a law to prevent the sale of products labeled as recyclable unless they are regularly collected and processed for recycling.
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The Trump-Xi summit in Beijing ended without any renewed disruptions in trade. Trump held back on new tariffs while China’s endorsement of “strategic stability” means, for now, it will continue to export rare earth minerals — elements China dominates to the tune of 90-plus percent and that are crucial to the electronics in your pocket. But putting a tourniquet on exports of lanthanum, europium, and gadolinium, among 17 rare earths, remains an option for Beijing. Coping with this threat means renewed rare earth mining in the United States. And, surprisingly, it also means changing what we put out in those blue recycling bins each week on our curbsides.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Washington Examiner.
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