PHILADELPHIA, PA — ERI is positioning its underused U.S. electronics-recycling capacity as a potential source of critical minerals for the defense supply chain as the federal government moves to increase domestic recovery of materials from discarded electronics, batteries, and other waste.
Tyler Shegerian, a strategic adviser for ERI, discussed the company’s processing capacity during an invitation-only roundtable at the 2026 Defense Industrial Base Accelerator in Philadelphia last month.
The session focused on recovering critical minerals from existing products and waste rather than relying exclusively on newly mined material. Participants discussed using end-of-life electronics, batteries and e-waste as feedstock for materials used in defense technology.
Shegerian told participants that U.S. collection, sorting, pre-processing and processing capacity remains significantly underused. He also reported that ERI could increase incoming volumes substantially without requiring significant additional capital spending in the near term.
The discussion comes as the federal government seeks to strengthen domestic and allied supplies of critical materials used in advanced defense technologies.
President Donald Trump in July signed an executive order directing the federal government to strengthen domestic and allied critical-material supply chains. The administration has also moved to restrict exports of certain recoverable critical-material waste streams, including battery waste and tungsten scrap, to retain more material for domestic processing.
The roundtable examined whether critical-mineral recycling should be treated as a strategic component of the U.S. industrial base and how end-of-life electronics and batteries generated by the Department of War could supply domestic recycling operations.
Participants also discussed a department commitment to provide such feedstock as part of efforts to secure the defense industrial base supply chain.
The approach would shift discarded electronics from a waste stream into a potential domestic source of materials needed for defense manufacturing, while creating additional supply for existing recycling and processing infrastructure.
Shegerian described the gathering as an opportunity to discuss “recovering critical minerals from the ‘above ground mine’” with government and industry participants.
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