'Urban Mining': Japan Focuses On Recycling Rare Earth Metals From Discarded Electronic Products (VIDEO)

Recent diplomatic conflicts resulted in China temporarily banning rare earth metal exports to Japan, a vital resource to Japan's high-tech production industry. Realizing the need for a wider array of rare earth supply, Japan is increasingly pursuing the recycling of rare metals, also known as "urban mining," as seen in this video from Reuters.

Urban mining is the process of extracting rare earth metals from discarded electronic products, which are ubiquitous in Japan, to reuse in new electronic products. The process is not only much more environmentally friendly, but also mitigates Japan's dependence on China for the metals. According to Reuters, China produces 90% of the world's rare earth, and reduced exports by 40% this year, with an additional 30% cut announced for 2011.

Japan is currently focusing around $1.2 billion toward rare earth research, as well as exploring new supply routes and stockpiling the metals, Reuters reports.

WATCH:

Comments

[BBackSoon]

05:12 PM on 10/25/2010

I have a friend that does this for half of his income. We just always called it scrapping, but I do like the Urban Mining, can't wait to tell him.

In the past 5 years the variety of items that are bought has skyrocketed. Soon everything will have a value, which is good since many will need these kind of jobs.

[Ljilja]

09:03 AM on 10/25/2010

I love that term - urban mining! That should be the mantra of our modern society.

http://graciouslivingdaybyday.com/

[Kenz300]

09:12 PM on 10/24/2010

Limited resources of food, water, oil and rare earth metals..........

An ever expanding world population..........

What caused the great civilizations of the past to disappear ?

Did resource constrainst cause a population collapse?

If those that believe PEAK OIL theory are correct. Increasing demand for oil
by China and India will soon push world demand beyond the worlds ability to
supply oil causing prices to rise for all.

The last time oil went to $147 / barrel people were parking their trucks
and SUV's and tripping over each other looking for high mileage vehicles.

Our economic security and national security will depend on our ability to
transition to clean, sustainable, alternative energy.

Wind, solar, geothermal and biofuels all need to ramp up production.

Roll out the electric cars !

[BBackSoon]

05:09 PM on 10/25/2010

I love your point about the high mileage cars being IN only when fuel is expensive. Now that we are enjoying more 'Reasonable' prices, Let the V8's roll!

We have a couple of better than average MPG autos. And if I could get into something even cheaper to operate, I would. Just can't afford $20k+ for a car right now.

[wdw505]

09:13 AM on 11/03/2010

and yet we still don't have viable electric cars in production

[TakeSake]

05:44 PM on 10/24/2010

Perhaps 10 years ago I disassembled all sorts of electronic equipment and sorted it into boxes of circuit boards, wire, motors, around 17 CRT tubes, and metals. I took it all down to an electronics recycler. The total value of the materials: about $400. The cost of extraction: $380. I got a check for $20.

It was very pleasing to do.

It's about time this was done properly, over here. Extraction can be done cleanly, but it's financially costly. It can be done cheaply, but it's environmentally costly.

When it's done in an environmentally costly way, it merely shifts the costs to the environment and to others, and that cost is much higher than if it was done cleanly the first time.

[wdw505]

09:17 AM on 11/03/2010

and 20 dollars was worth it to you?

[Genders]

02:32 PM on 10/24/2010

Great! We need to stop dumping. "Waste" can provide all the fuels and energy needed to back up solar and wind, and the remainder are valuable for the rare earths. instead we still dump over 90% , wasting land, polluting, wasting a critical resource for the future.

[marylandtravelinman]

09:43 PM on 10/23/2010

See, government has no role in recycling. The free market will balance everything out. Oh wait, it was the Chinese government that reduced exports. My bad.

[rougebaisers]

09:06 AM on 10/23/2010

Thank you Japan. Wake up the rest of the world sending them to dump sites.

[powerhuff]

06:05 AM on 10/23/2010

so much lead

[frank day]

08:00 PM on 10/22/2010

Ha! How do you like that Chinese tyrant?

[rougebaisers]

09:06 AM on 10/23/2010

China is the devil.

[Bruce Tabb]

07:07 PM on 10/22/2010

That's a really great idea. We should try to get some people to invest in that type of recycling here. Considering our MASSIVE consumer culture I'm sure we have landfills filled with recyclable materials and rare earths.

[frank day]

08:01 PM on 10/22/2010

We've got enough cheap Chinese chit sitting around to last for a decade at least.

[oxjr]

12:14 AM on 10/23/2010

we send our junk to third-world countries that hire children to extract the metals while they are exposed to toxic dust. MMMMMM doesn't that make you feel good inside.

http://www­.greenpeac­e.org/inte­rnational/­en/news/fe­atures/poi­soning-the­-poor-elec­troni/