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The green technology industry is in a high growth phase, but a UN report has raised red flags that this growth is threatened by a failure to recycle metals and especially rare earth elements.
Sloppy recycling rates for metals worldwide pose a risk to all of the clean technologies, including batteries, hybrid cars, magnets in wind turbines and more, which rely on metals. The problem is not just theoretical as shortages of rare earth minerals used in high-tech and defense production have already sent jitters around the world after China, which is the dominant producer, restricted exports.
The EU is also developing a strategy that may include a stockpiling program for the most critical metals. While gold and silver recycling rates were high in the jewelry sector, they plunged to less than 15% in electronics.
