Japan plans to recycle 13 rare earth metals

The Japanese government is planning to recycle 13 rare earth metals needed to produce high-tech products from electronic devices such as mobile phones and electronic game machines.

Japan will recycle 13 rare earth metals. (Source: Internet)

This is one of Japan's efforts to secure this metal supply. Among the 13 rare earth metals are lithium, indium, manganese and platinum.

In addition, the Government of Japan will mandate the recycling of rare earth metals from small electronic products. About 10-20 types of electronic devices may be included in the list of products to be recycled, including digital cameras, camcorders, DVD players and microwaves.

So far, technologies for extracting rare earths from used household items are still incomplete, so rare-earth metal recycling projects are still not economically viable. However, the Japanese Government intends to finance the development of these recycling technologies if necessary.

Japan has issued legal documents on compulsory recycling of large household products such as air conditioners, refrigerators, televisions and cars. Of course, the country still has no mandatory regulations to recycle mobile phones and some other electronic devices that contain a relatively large amount of rare earth metals.

The Japanese government hopes to close negotiations soon with localities (where the garbage collection is authorized), as well as waste recycling businesses, electronics retail businesses and some other related subjects on this issue.

In recent years, the demand for rare earth metals in the world is increasing rapidly as sales of electric cars and other eco-friendly electronic products are increasing. By 2020, lithium demand may increase by 203 times, while manganese demand will increase by 161 times compared to today.

Japan is trying to diversify the supply of rare earth metals to avoid reliance on China, the world's largest exporter of rare earth metals and currently providing 97% of Japan's rare earth metal demand. .