ANALYSIS, July 3, 2025 – Workforce wearing safety gloves, using handheld tools to dislodge electric and electronic devices in the premises of ill-equipped factories, was a common sight in most of the countries a few decades back.

With an increased day-to-day dependence on electronics, also came to fore, the much required need to dispose electronic waste (e-waste) in a scientific manner.

Setting up of advanced recycling processes to extract rare earth metals, eliminate wastage, and increase resource productivity has been a key task, which the e-waste recyclers have been achieving.

One among the many recent accomplishments in e-waste recycling segment, came on Tuesday, when MTM Critical Metals announced that it has achieved 98 percent recovery of antimony from US electronic waste, extracting 3.13 percent metal content from printed circuit board feedstock.

The Australian company, whose Houston, Texas-based subsidiary Flash Metals USA, is commercializing its proprietary Flash Joule Heating (FJH) technology to recover critical metals and gold from e-waste.

Last month, MTM secured a pre-permitted site in the US Gulf Coast petrochemical corridor in Chambers County, Texas, as its first facility.

As per MTM, the tested feedstock is a testimony of the untapped value of complex e-waste streams.  It is the same urban waste material from which MTM previously reported ultra-high-grade gold, silver and copper recoveries.

From Waste to Missiles 

Earlier this year, the US Department of Defense awarded $5.1 million to Rare Resource Recycling Inc. to enhance the recovery of critical rare earth elements from recycled electronic waste, strengthening the domestic supply chain for defense applications.

In its endeavor to recycle e-waste into rare earth elements that are crucial for the defense sector, a Texas-based company is pioneering a novel concept.

The company, REEcycle aims to recover four key elements vital for neodymium iron boron (NdFeB) magnets. These are all essential in various defense applications, such as electric motors for air platforms, missiles, submarines, and drones.

The project envisages to restart a demonstration facility and progress with commissioning a commercial facility. It has set an ambitious target to produce 50 tons of rare earth oxides from the facility annually.

This initiative aligns with the 2024 National Defense Industrial Strategy’s goal of strengthening domestic production of critical minerals to enhance supply chain resilience, the Pentagon was reported to having said.

This is the sixth award from the DPA Purchases Office, totalling $295.9 million, since the start of fiscal 2025. It supports the 2024 National Defense Industrial Strategy’s goal of boosting domestic production of critical minerals and strengthening supply chain resilience, the DoD noted.

Strategic Partnerships

E-waste recyclers are forging strategic partnerships with major tech companies to carry out the sustainable processing of discarded electronics.

In November last year, Zurich-based ABB Robotics collaborated with US start-up Molg to create robotic microfactories to recover and recycle data center operators’ disused electronic equipment, commonly known as e-waste. With global e-waste projected to rise to 75 million tons by 2030, the microfactories will play a vital role in reducing the electronic waste, helping the data center sector operate more efficiently and sustainably.

ABB Robotics has a strong presence in electrification, robotics, automation, and motion businesses. Molg tackles the growing e-waste problem by making manufacturing circular.

As per industry estimates, the US electronic waste recycling market was valued at $24.7 billion in 2024. This number is expected to increase to $45.3 billion by 2032, advancing at a CAGR of 8.0 percent during 2025–2032.

 

Inputs from Saqib Malik

Editing by David Ryder