Japan Turns to Air-Conditioner Recycling for Rare Earths, but Cost and Capacity Raise Questions
Dragon Media News Desk
Japan’s Mitsubishi Electric has launched a recycling program to recover rare-earth magnets from discarded household air conditioners and reuse them in new products. The initiative has drawn attention as Japan seeks to strengthen its critical-mineral supply security amid tighter Chinese export controls on dual-use goods linked to military applications.
According to information released by Mitsubishi Electric on June 2, the company claims to have established Japan’s first closed-loop recycling system of its kind for household air conditioners. Under the program, discarded units are collected, rare-earth magnets are removed from their compressors, and the recovered materials are separated, refined and reused in the manufacture of new air conditioners.
The company said the recycling process would recover neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium. Mitsubishi estimates that the program could provide an amount equivalent to approximately 35 percent by weight of the dysprosium and terbium used in the household air conditioners it manufactures in Japan. The figure does not represent 35 percent of the total rare-earth requirements for all air-conditioner production, but applies to specific elements used by the company.
Mitsubishi-affiliated companies will collect and dismantle the discarded equipment. Magnets will then be removed from compressor rotors and sent to specialized companies for separation, refining and conversion into reusable materials.
The company plans to expand the system to commercial air conditioners and other products that use rare-earth permanent magnets.
Chinese industry experts, however, have questioned whether recycling household air conditioners can make a significant contribution to Japan’s overall rare-earth supply.
They argue that each discarded unit contains only a limited quantity of recoverable material and that collection, dismantling, separation and refining can be expensive. As a result, the commercial capacity of the program may remain limited.
Zhang Xiaorong, director of the Beijing-based Cutting-Edge Technology Research Institute, told the Global Times that most material recovered from air conditioners consists of light rare-earth elements, while heavy rare earths required for electric vehicles and high-technology applications are available only in comparatively small quantities.
He said recycling could ease some supply pressure but would not be sufficient to establish a large and stable alternative supply chain.
Mitsubishi’s official information nevertheless confirms that dysprosium and terbium, both classified as heavy rare-earth elements, are among the materials to be recovered. The central questions are therefore not whether such elements are present, but how much can be retrieved, at what recovery rate and at what economic cost.
Japan has also announced the experimental retrieval of deep-sea mud believed to contain rare-earth elements from a depth of about 6,000 metres near Minamitorishima Island in the Pacific Ocean.
Chinese experts say that deep-sea mining cannot provide an immediate solution because large-scale extraction, transportation and processing would require highly complex technology and substantial investment.
Although rare-earth deposits are found in several countries, China maintains a strong position in separation, refining, alloy production and the manufacture of high-performance permanent magnets.
In April 2025, China introduced an export-licensing system for certain products related to samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium and yttrium.
On June 29, 2026, China’s Ministry of Commerce placed 20 Japanese entities, including the National Institute for Defense Studies, on an export-control list concerning dual-use items linked to the enhancement of military capabilities.
Chinese exporters are prohibited from supplying controlled goods to the listed entities unless special government authorization is obtained.
On the same day, another 20 Japanese entities, including Mitsui E&S, were placed on a watch list because their final users or intended end uses could not be fully verified.
Exporters seeking to supply goods to those entities must conduct risk assessments and submit written assurances that the products will not be used to strengthen Japan’s military capabilities.
China’s Ministry of Commerce has said the measures are not directed against normal trade between China and Japan. It maintains that the controls specifically target Japanese military end-users, military purposes and other uses that could enhance Japan’s military capabilities.
China has presented the restrictions as lawful measures intended to prevent renewed Japanese militarization, while the Japanese government has opposed the controls and called for their withdrawal.
Chinese analysts acknowledge that Japan’s air-conditioner recycling initiative represents an effort to diversify critical-mineral supplies. However, they argue that it cannot immediately replace the processing technologies and complete industrial chain concentrated in China.
They say recycling and deep-sea resource development could contribute to Japan’s long-term strategy, but establishing sufficient volume, stable prices and reliable supplies would likely take years.
Mitsubishi Electric, meanwhile, has presented the program not as an attempt to circumvent export controls imposed by any country, but as an industrial initiative aimed at using limited natural resources more efficiently, reducing environmental pressure and promoting a circular economy.
