On July 30 (local time), US President Donald Trump signed a decree allowing federal agencies to restrict the export of certain types of industrial waste and electronic waste if domestic recycling can recover raw materials that are important to the US economy.
According to TASS news agency, the decree was issued in the context of the US strengthening measures to ensure strategic mineral supply, especially materials serving high-tech, defense and clean energy production industries.
Documents released by the White House show that many types of waste after the end of their life cycle still contain large amounts of valuable materials. Electronic devices, lithium-ion batteries, permanent magnets and many industrial components can be recycled to recover rare earths, lithium and many other important metals.
According to the decree, the US Department of Commerce will review and identify cases that need to apply export restriction measures, and assess types of waste that should be retained for treatment and recycling domestically instead of being taken abroad.
The US administration said that strengthening domestic recycling will help reduce dependence on imported raw materials, while strengthening the supply chain for key industries such as electric vehicle battery production, semiconductor, electronics, aerospace and defense.
The new move also reflects the trend of increasingly considering electronic waste as a resource instead of just waste.
According to many studies, old electronic devices may contain higher levels of precious metals and rare minerals than some natural mining sites, creating great potential for the recycling industry.
In recent years, the US has continuously promoted policies to increase strategic mineral autonomy, especially after the global supply chain has been interrupted many times and demand for rare earths, lithium and metals serving energy conversion has increased sharply.
Observers believe that if widely implemented, the new policy could promote the domestic recycling industry, reduce export waste and contribute to ensuring raw materials for strategic manufacturing industries in the US in the coming years.
