Japan’s ‘urban mining’ and economic security

For nearly two decades, Japan has been at the global forefront of ‘urban mining’, a process of recycling critical minerals from urban waste. Tokyo has honed its specialism to resist China’s dominance in the production of critical minerals and to ensure supply-chain security both domestically and with international partners.

For Tokyo, urban mining addresses two strategic issues linked to critical minerals. Firstly, it reduces Japan’s dependence on imports of critical minerals, thereby boosting economic resilience. Secondly, urban mining is less environmentally damaging than conventional mining, as the carbon emissions from smelting recycled materials are lower than those generated by processing raw ores.

Although Japan has few mineral resources of its own, the volume of critical minerals it recycles from urban mines, including from electronic devices, is world leading. According to Japan’s Ministry of the Environment, the country’s urban mining of metals, such as indium, tin and tantalum, accounts for 10% or more of the world’s metal reserves. This has been enabled by Japan’s advances in smelter technology. Japanese copper-smelting capacity is, for example, the second highest in the world. Moreover, the share of metal materials in Japanese exports has been increasing, while the share of exports from Japanese manufacturing has shrunk.

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