Indianapolis' RecyleForce at forefront of U.S. Department of Energy program to recycle rare earth minerals

The U.S. Department of Energy is testing out a new way to recycle rare earth minerals from consumer electronics in Indianapolis. 

RecycleForce is the first test site in the country for a recycling method experts hope will be able to reduce U.S. reliance on foreign materials. 

Currently, the rare earth minerals found in hard drives, cell phones and other consumer electronics don’t get recycled, often ending up in landfills. 

Ikenna Nlebedim, a research scientist with the Ames National Laboratory, said they hope to change that. 

“What we need to do is to look for a way to strengthen our supply chain, and that is really what we are trying to do here,” he said. 

Currently, the United States imports the majority of the rare earth minerals that it uses, primarily from China. That has posed increased national security concerns for the Trump administration, especially after China placed export restrictions on rare earth minerals in response to Trump’s tariffs on the country. 

It’s not yet clear how much recycling could offset the U.S. reliance on imported rare earth minerals, but Nlebedim said that’s one thing the pilot program aims to find out.

“There have been different numbers out there with respect to how much rare earth you could get from recycling,” he said. “I have seen numbers from 15% to 25% of how much of the supply chain [it could offset]. But the challenge right now is that the recycling recovery rate is still very low.”

According to Nlebedim, rare earth minerals make up just about 2% of a traditional hard drive. It’s been difficult to remove them, and it isn’t cost-efficient to send semis full of old consumer electronics to one location for processing. 

That’s where the new process at RecycleForce comes in. 

Nlebedim and his team have set up a low-tech system for removing rare earth minerals that, If successful, could recover about 90% of those minerals from existing electronics. 

With this method electronics are loaded into what looks like a cement mixer and spun around. The mixer is filled with a copper-based solution that dissolves the rare earth minerals and retains them in the liquid. The remaining electronic parts can then be pulled out of the mixer, while the liquified minerals remain. 

The hope is to eventually set up similar systems across the country.

Jon Ford is with Indiana’s Office of Energy Development. He said Governor Braun is interested in how the project could help support Indiana manufacturing.

“As we import the majority of it out of Asia, if we can make it here in America, we’ll get more people to manufacture here,” he said. “If we can get it in Indiana, the best manufacturing state in the country, we’ll get more investment here.”

President of RecycleForce, Gregg Keesling, said the project works hand in hand with their mission of hiring and employing formerly incarcerated individuals. 

“Americans buy too much stuff and throw it away, and we're trying to figure out how we remake the people and the things we throw away, the things society wants and needs,” he said. 

Over the next six months, RecycleForce will test out the new technology and provide data to the U.S. Department of Energy.