How a change in recycling can beat China’s rare earths monopoly

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. We need to “mine” the waste stream of old iPhones, iPads, CD players, microwave ovens, and other “e-waste” to salvage valuable rare earths and reuse them. Doing so can save cities money and help neutralize China’s advantage in rare earths.

A raft of studies