Re-use, repair, recycle
What about ecodesign, reuse, extending life and other CE actions?
- REPM are embedded as in principle (permanent) components with abilities to effectively deal with wear and tear requirements and the likelihood of outlasting the products / applications that they are embedded in. The relatively straight forward controls, both in power generation and usage, make them excellent candidates for secondary component harvesting, especially because recycling today is still very complicated (due to bonded structure of magnets) and high energy intensity (with associated environmental footprints). In consequence, component harvesting, refurbishment and remanufacturing operations could provide significantly extended usage patterns, if magnet requirements could be more standardised.
- Magnets are made in many different shapes, sizes and specifications, all tailored to specific uses. This makes it difficult to use them in other applications, even if they still have good magnetic properties at the end of their life in the product.
- Reduction of REE use and development of alternative materials. As the end products are of different scopes with different value propositions, value stream mapping needs to be different for the different end products, and the recovery route may be determined for specific products.
How much can we recycle? And when can we do it?
- This will depend on the product in question, but overall, at the moment, not much.
- Waste electronic and electrical equipment generally only contains very low amounts of REE and much industrial electronic waste containing magnets is not even covered by WEEE regulations.
- However, with the ongoing rapid deployment of windpower and EVs in the UK, as well as an increased use of REPM-motors in other applications owing to their superior energy-efficiency and increased automation of production processes (e.g. compressors in heat-pumps, other pumps and power tools), it is expected that the local stock in the UK will develop rapidly and could be sufficient to meet demand by the late 2040s.1
- Lack of policy instruments for a secondary market, volatile REE prices, demand uncertainty in primary and secondary markets, recycling process efficiency concerns and environmental impacts all hinder progress on recycling.
- Challenges to be overcome include the variation in scope and scale of end-of-life products such as electronics, automobiles and wind turbines.
- Liberating and processing REPMs from end-of-life assets such as EV motors is difficult and the value of the materials does not justify the infrastructure and technology investment needed to industrialise this process.
What are the future primary and secondary sources of REE?
- There are many REE deposits around the World2, and many companies who could supply the UK. Challenges include finding the investment as well as solving the technical challenges whilst maintaining good ESG standards to bring projects to fruition as mines. In some jurisdictions social licence to operate and environmental concerns have caused projects to stall. Joining up the whole value chain of REE mining, processing, and manufacturing is difficult because so much of the industry is already concentrated in China. The Australian company, Lynas Rare Earths3 have shown that it can be done.
- Other challenges include the innovation and changes to business models needed to be able to re-use magnets and likewise the technology and investment needed to start up commercial scale recycling plants that can compete with Chinese supply.
What are the future primary and secondary sources of REE?
- There are many REE deposits around the World2, and many companies who could supply the UK. Challenges include finding the investment as well as solving the technical challenges to bring projects to fruition as mines. In some jurisdictions social license to operate and environmental concerns have caused projects to stall (e.g. Kvanefjeld, Greenland, Norra Kärr, Sweden). Joining up value chains of mining, processing, and manufacturing is difficult because so much of the industry is concentrated already in China.
- With the ongoing rapid deployment of windpower and EV in the UK, as well as an increased proliferation into other fields of applications where superior energy-efficiency of REPM-motors are defining features for technological progress (e.g. motors, compressors in other decarbonisation technologies [e.g. heat-pumps] and increased automation of production processes), it is expected that the local stock in the UK will rapidly develop and be potentially sufficient to meet demand by the late 2040s.3 Challenges here include the innovation and changes to business models needed to be able to re-use magnets and likewise the technology and investment needed to start up commercial scale recycling plants that can compete with Chinese supply.
2. https://www.bgs.ac.uk/discovering-geology/maps-and-resources/maps
3. Petavratzi et al., 2024. Petavratzi, E., and Josso, P. 2025. Future UK material demand for key decarbonisation technologies. NERC EDS National Geoscience Data Centre. (Dataset). https://doi.org/10.5285/dce6f1f3-3d56-4b0d-9cdb-75db4a03c406
1. Petavratzi et al., 2024. Petavratzi, E., and Josso, P. 2025. Future UK material demand for key decarbonisation technologies. NERC EDS National Geoscience Data Centre. (Dataset). https://doi.org/10.5285/dce6f1f3-3d56-4b0d-9cdb-75db4a03c406
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