According to the South Korean newspaper Pioneer Economy, the demand for core minerals in cutting-edge information and communication industries such as electric vehicles and wind power is rapidly increasing, making supply chain stability and security a national issue. The South Korean Ministry of Climate and Environment plans to develop a strategy for recycling and reusing core minerals from various future waste resources such as electric vehicle batteries, communication equipment, and permanent magnets.
At present, South Korea has not recovered a large amount of core minerals from electronic waste, so electronic waste flows overseas or is directly treated as scrap iron. The Ministry of Climate and Environment of South Korea has formed a collaborative team with experts from the National Academy of Environmental Sciences, the Korean Environmental Research Institute, the Korean Geological Resources Research Institute, and other institutions. Starting from the strategic development stage, the team listens to on-site voices, analyzes the current status of reuse technology and infrastructure, and develops substantive recycling and reuse plans.
