America's untapped rare earth source: its trash

The U.S. is looking to recycling as a potential source for rare earth elements, minerals critical to electronics, renewable energy, and defense applications that America currently depends on imports to obtain. Rare earth elements are essential components in everything from smartphones and wind turbines to military equipment, yet the U.S. has limited domestic mining capacity and relies heavily on foreign suppliers, particularly China. Developing a domestic recycling infrastructure could reduce supply chain vulnerabilities and decrease reliance on overseas sources. The effort reflects growing recognition that discarded electronics and industrial waste contain recoverable rare earths that could be extracted and reused. Scaling up such recycling operations faces technical and economic hurdles, but success could help secure long-term domestic supplies of materials vital to American manufacturing and national security.