Researchers call for policy on recycling rare speciality metals

‘A recycling rate of zero for specialty metals is alarming when we consider that their use is growing quickly,’ said Barbara Reck, a research scientist at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and co-author of a paper on the subject in Science.

Specialty metals, which include rare earth elements such as indium, gallium and germanium, are used in small amounts for very precise technological purposes, such as red phosphors, high-strength magnets, thin-film solar cells and computer chips.

Recovery can be so technologically and economically challenging that the attempt is seldom made.

‘Specialty metals are used in products in only small amounts, but their value typically does not provide enough incentive to invest in a complicated recovery process. Also, the technology to do so is untested,’ said Thomas Graedel, the study’s other co-author and Clifton R Musser Professor of Industrial Ecology.

According to a statement, improved design for recycling, deposits on consumer goods, recycling targets for specialty metals and financial incentives for industry to apply advanced separation techniques and recycling technologies would improve metal recycling.