However, even after being refurbished or repurposed for a second use, recycling is still an essential final step for retired ...

And that trash contains treasure. Metals made up half the world’s electronic trash, or e-waste, in 2022 and were worth $91 billion. Copper, iron, and gold accounted for a big chunk of that value.

But existing recycling processes have struggled to extract the rare earth elements used in HDDs, such as Neodymium, which is widely used as a magnet in today’s electronics.