The world’s rare earth supply is in danger of running out just as demand is set to skyrocket.
Rare earth metals are critical materials used to manufacture smartphones, computers, wind turbines as well as electric vehicles.
With renewable energy growing ever more important in the face of the negative environmental impact of carbon-based fossil fuels, recovering rare earth elements takes priority for the global manufacturing industry.
Mining these materials presents a challenge, as, for example, cobalt, commonly used in car batteries stems from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a country notorious for human rights abuses.
In some cases, access to these raw materials could potentially be restricted due to political reasons-this could be a problem in the case of neodymium or yttrium which are found in smartphone displays, LED lights as well as flat-screen displays, as these materials are mostly sourced from China. (The country’s decision to limit exports in 2010 led to a worldwide surge in prices.) Said nation also suffers from the toxic aftermath of mining, exemplified by soil erosion and pollution as well as water contamination.
This leaves excavating e-waste as the only ethical as well as sustainable option to recover rare earth metals.