Global Recycling of Rare Earth Metals: Is this a good solution?
The global demand for electronic
items like cell phones or computers outweighs the concern by manufacturers
about remaining “green”. Rare earth elements/metals, or REEs, are necessary to
build today’s technology. China is the main location for the mining and
processing of REEs and the world depends on this outsourcing. This grants China
the reign over REE trade. China regulates the manufacturing, inventory, and
prices of REEs. This benefits China economically. They are taking advantage of the
concept of “supply and demand”.
Decreased production/mining of
REEs, while the demand for electronic creation remains high, creates a valuable
imbalance causing prices to justifiably remain high. In 2010, China was
responsible for 97 percent of the world’s supply of REEs; the same year China
limited their exports, driving prices sky high. Mining facilities were built to
try and recoup some of the major US companies in need of REEs. This decreased
REE prices and – in part – their volatility.
One solution many from the United
States (and other REE reliant countries) have thought of to decrease their
dependency on China is by recycling the electronic products they already have.
However, this might not be as easy as it sounds. Not only are people concerned
about loss of personal information on electronics, but there are technical
issues which create longer processes than we originally might have thought. “New
phones contain around 65 elements, compared to the 85 used in all of industry.”
says Alex King of the Ames Lab and director of
the Critical Materials Institute. This alone makes the organization of
elements in the recycling process much more difficult. Yale University
industrial ecologist Thomas Graedel believes that the energy cost increase to
recycle these electronics is arguably more harmful to the environment than
simply continuing to mine the REEs. “We don’t know how to manufacture things
for recyclability, in this country especially.” states Eric Peterson of Idaho
National Laboratory, “We have to learn how to do that.”
Sources
Tessa Schwass
Comments
Post a Comment
Let your knowledge, ideas, and innovation be heard. Tell us what you think and know about this topic.