alt Hacker NewsE-Waste recycling is a major pillar of India's Critical Minerals Strategy [0][1]
The Indian government explicitly exempted specific types of e-waste from import fees and provided additional subsidies such that such waste would come to India in order to be reprocessed [2]. Additionally, the Indian government is allocating around $200M in subsidies explicitly for companies to import, recycle, and process E-Waste within India [3][4] plus additional funding to add capacity.
These are the exact same steps China took in the 2000s as well with almost the exact same word-for-word criticism [5][6], yet it helped them solidify their REE and Green economy to what it is today.
And this is why rare earth processing left America - it is a VERY VERY VERY dirty industry with very low margins. There is no way to get around treating unskilled workers in this industry as expendables - even safety gear can destroy the margins in this industry.
You need to choose between whether you want sub-$10K EVs and low cost solar panels like in China and India OR strong worker protections in their upstream industries like REE processing. You can only choose one.
That said, for every abusive processor, you have less abusive one's as well [7][8]
[0] - https://mines.gov.in/admin/download/649d4212cceb01688027666....
[1] - https://primuspartners.in/docs/documents/Final%2020%20Aug_Ra...
[2] - https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=2112...
[3] - https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/land-use-biodiversity...
[4] - https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulat...
[5] - https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/media/docum...
[6] - https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/world/asia/18iht-waste.1....
[7] - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oesZJxrVgeU&pp=0gcJCRsBo7VqN5t...
Replies
>You need to choose between whether you want sub-$10K EVs and low cost solar panels like in China and India OR strong worker protections in their upstream industries like REE processing. You can only choose one.
With globalism, we got cheap goods and didn't worry about [domestic] worker safety. But, i don't doubt that innovation will happen if we bring stuff back on-shore. There's no motivation to improve processes and innovate if you can just cheaply externalize everything.
> There is no way to get around treating unskilled workers in this industry as expendables - even safety gear can destroy the margins in this industry.
Actually, there is. The way is called tariffs - an instrument to offset externalities like environment and labor protection dumping.
> And this is why rare earth processing left Americ
Not to mention that it can take 10-30 years to open a new mine, between all the environmental reviews and court challenges.
I'm always amazed that people will prevent mines from opening in the US on environmental grounds, then continue to happily buy 99% of everything from overseas, where the environmental and labor regulations are significantly weaker, and governments even more prone to covering up wrongdoing.