The vehicles contain magnets made of critical minerals such as the rare earth element neodymium.
Electric scooter and bike-share company Lime is partnering with Canadian recycling startup Cyclic Materials to recover and recycle rare earth magnets from its North American fleet. These magnets, found in the vehicles’ motors, contain critical minerals like the rare earth element neodymium, yet only a fraction of them are recycled globally.
Under the partnership, recovered materials will be processed at Cyclic’s facilities in Mesa, Arizona and Kingston, Ontario, helping to return the resources to the supply chain and reduce reliance on primary mining and imports. The Arizona plant is scheduled to begin operations in early 2026 (we reported). Industry giants, including Microsoft, BMW iVentures, Hitachi Ventures, and Amazon, have already backed the startup in its development.
Urban Mining: A Mostly Untapped Potential
While recycling in micro e-mobility is still in its infancy, other projects have been undertaken in the past. In Finland, the University of Jyväskylä and the Finnish Environment Institute (Syke) are collaborating on a circular economy project to develop new methods for recovering critical metals from small electric vehicles. The project is expected to be concluded by the end of the year. Lime’s competitor Bird is also stepping up recycling efforts, working with Noveon Magnetics (formerly Urban Mining Co.) on similar rare earth magnet recovery initiatives.
These efforts are part of a broader trend in urban mining, which treats cities as “above-ground mines” for essential materials. According to Adamas Intelligence, the U.S. alone could generate over 43,000 metric tons of end-of-life NdFeB magnets by 2035.
Photo: MarioGuti via Canva