The Critical Minerals America Needs Are in Your Junk Drawer
Critical Mineral Recovery
America’s demand for critical materials has reached a tipping point, and electronics recycling is moving to the center of the conversation. Old phones, tablets, laptops and tangled cords tucked away “just in case” contain copper, aluminum, gold, silver, palladium and rare-earth elements essential to the artificial-intelligence, defense and aerospace economies.
The United States still relies on vulnerable foreign supply chains — China accounts for roughly 90 percent of global rare-earth refining and is the leading refiner for 19 of 20 strategic minerals. Rebuilding American mines is essential, the author argues, but mining alone cannot meet soaring demand, and recovering materials from obsolete electronics offers the fastest way to supplement domestic mining.
Roughly 62 million tonnes of e-waste were generated globally in 2022, with only about 22 percent responsibly recycled. The author calls for a “Green Fence” policy to keep obsolete electronics from being shipped overseas before their critical materials are recovered, arguing that every exported device is also an export of American resources and jobs.
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