In the next five years, we have an opportunity to embed circularity into our entire digital infrastructure
As consumer electronics proliferate, chip designs advance, telecommunication services consolidate, and AI and cloud technologies reach hyperscale, the digital transition is set to change our ways of life. The transition we call ‘digital’ not only relies on continuous, global supplies of critical minerals, but is also creating one of the largest and fastest-growing stocks of critical minerals inside the economy. And as demand for them is set to surge over the coming years, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to embed circular strategies into the supply chains and business models that will sustain the digital world for decades to come.
Without circularity, digital infrastructure becomes tomorrow’s waste instead of tomorrow’s supply
Consumer electronics is the fastest-growing waste stream in the world, each year losing USD 91 billion worth of valuable metals. Meanwhile, telecom equipment, server farms, and data centres are scaling at extraordinary speed, embedding ever greater quantities of critical minerals into the infrastructure of the digital economy. Unless those materials are designed for recirculation, every new generation of technology will add to the demand for virgin extraction and lead to greater volumes of valuable materials going to landfill, incineration, export, or neglect.
With circularity, digital infrastructure can become an engine of global economic prosperity
Our work on consumer electronics aims to set the circular digital transition in motion. In our Missing signal report, we mapped how critical minerals flow through the North American mobile phone system and where they lose value, identifying the economic potential of secondary material markets and the circular interventions needed to unlock it.
By keeping products in use for as long as possible and recovering their materials once reusereuseThe repeated use of a product or component for its intended purpose without significant modification. is no longer possible, a circular economycircular economyA systems solution framework that tackles global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution. It is based on three principles, driven by design: eliminate waste and pollution, circulate products and materials (at their highest value), and regenerate nature. can turn today’s digital infrastructure into a resilient source of future supply for the digital transition. It can generate successive value from the same products, parts, and materials while bringing us closer to eliminating waste. Extending those same principles to the wider digital ecosystem, we are exploring how a circular economy can ensure that the rapid expansion of data centres and AI infrastructure is not tied to take-make-waste practices. Unlike many established industries, the infrastructure is still being built. So we are working across business, policy, and finance to build the evidence, partnerships, and investment frameworks necessary to embed circularity into the digital value chain from the outset, maximising the value of critical minerals and reducing the need for new extraction.
Apply to join our Critical Minerals Network
Do you want to help build the circular critical minerals system of the future? Help shape the debate and the market? We are looking for industry leaders, investors, policymakers, and innovators to join our sector-specific working groups and implementation projects.
Support our Critical Minerals mission
As a not-for-profit organisation, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation relies on philanthropic support to to deliver its mission. This funding model protects our independence, enabling us to convene across sectors and champion a circular economy without compromise. Philanthropic partners also allow us to be ambitious and agile, accelerating system-level change in response to global challenges. We actively seek to work with philanthropic organisations that share our ambition to build an economy that works for people, business, and the natural world.
Learn more about our funding and how you can support us.
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