Importing Critical Minerals for Recycling
Principal Paul Hagen (Washington, DC) contributed a sidebar to the November/December 2025 edition of the Environmental Law Institute's Environmental Forum. His piece, "Importing Critical Minerals for Recycling," discusses how rising demand for critical minerals in the U.S. could be addressed through U.S. implementation and ratification of the Basel Convention. The Basel Convention is a global treaty endorsed by 191 Parties that governs international trade in many waste streams managed for recycling, including wastes that contain critical raw materials. U.S. ratification would remove trade bans in place for many imports and dramatically expand the opportunities for U.S. companies to source recyclable materials containing critical minerals and other valuable metals.
Read the full article here.
Beveridge & Diamond provides strategic, business-focused counseling to companies across a wide range of critical-materials and circular-economy supply chains, including manufacturers of products containing critical minerals, logistics providers, retailers, large-scale industrial users, recyclers, and developers of emerging recovery technologies. This work is supported by our Waste and Recycling, International Environmental Law, Product Stewardship, Global Supply Chains, and Hazardous Materials and Dangerous Goods Transportation practice groups, among others. The firm also offers ongoing programming on environmental issues related to materials management and resource recovery. For more information about developments in the U.S. or internationally, please contact the authors.
