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Karo Sambhav collaborates with leading organisations to jointly develop industry frameworks, standards, governance mechanisms, systems and processes that advance the transition to circular economy. know more about our alliances.
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The need to recycle e-waste has never been more urgent. The resources that we use to produce our electronics are non-renewable and finite, and as demand for these materials continues to rise, finding alternative sources becomes essential.
At the end of their useful life, electronic devices become a rich source of valuable materials, which can be recovered and reintegrated into production and reduce our reliance on virgin resources. Among the various materials found in e-waste, rare-earth elements stand out as a particularly important resource.
Rare-earth elements (REEs) are a group of 17 chemically similar elements, which are particularly significant due to their critical applications in modern technologies. Among them, Neodymium and dysprosium are especially valued for their roles in headphones, speakers, wind turbines, electric vehicles, and other electronic components. For example, neodymium magnets enable excellent sound quality in headphones while keeping them lightweight. Without rare-earth elements like these, many technological advancements would be impractical or far less efficient.
Rare-earth elements are typically found in low concentrations within mineral ores and often exist in combination with other elements. This makes their extraction both difficult and expensive. Additionally, China currently dominates the global supply of rare-earth elements. As of 2024, China produces 60 percent of the world’s REEs and processes nearly 90 percent of it. This reliance on a single country for such a critical resource creates vulnerabilities in the global supply chain, particularly in the event of trade tensions or geopolitical instability.
Given these challenges, recovering rare-earth elements from e-waste offers a promising alternative. It reduces reliance on environmentally damaging mining activities, minimizes resource wastage, and helps reduce dependence on a single country or source for these critical materials. It supports the principles of a circular economy by keeping materials in circulation.
However, the technology to recover REEs at scale is not yet available globally. This highlights the importance of research and development (R&D) to create innovative solutions that can scale up recovery processes effectively. To contribute to this effort, Karo Sambhav is part of a bilateral R&D project focused on the recovery of rare-earth elements from magnets present in e-waste.
Karo Sambhav, along with IIT Roorkee and The Technology Development Board under The Department of Science and Technology, GoI, is part of a research project focusing on the 'recycling of NdFeB magnets to recover rare earth elements'. This research is part of a project under the 'India-UK Collaborative R&D for Industrial Sustainability 2023' and aims to develop 'digitalized and sustainable approaches for reusing, repairing, and recycling of permanent magnets from electronic waste'. The UK counterpart comprises of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the University of Leeds, Silex World Ltd, and SG Technologies Ltd.
Karo Sambhav collaborates with leading organisations to jointly develop industry frameworks, standards, governance mechanisms, systems and processes that advance the transition to circular economy. know more about our alliances.
