Recycling should be an integral part of the lifecycle of all materials and because platinum group metals (PGMs) have a high value and are resistant to chemical attack a significant proportion of them are in fact recycled, thereby conserving this precious resource. In their common industrial uses such as for gauzes and petroleum catalysts, the PGM materials are recycled as a normal part of the industrial process. This means that annual demand for new PGMs is low and is primarily required for topping up the replacement rate.

How are platinum group metals recycled?

The platinum group metals can be recovered using most waste management systems and the recovery rate can go as high as 99%, depending on the proportion of platinum in the scrap. The most widespread recycling of PGMs takes place in the auto-catalyst sector and in fact a new industry has sprung up around the need to recycle platinum group metals (PGMs) from catalytic converters at the end of a vehicle's life. It involves modern car dismantlers, scrap yards and workshops as well as specialist companies to collect and warehouse them and it is highly successful.

The converters are stripped with the ceramic or metallic catalyst being removed from the steel can by special cutting devices and the steel then sorted by quality and sold as secondary scrap to steel plants. The catalyst with the precious metals is delivered to precious metals refiners, specialised in the recovery of platinum group metals to generate high purity platinum, palladium and rhodium identical with new PGM from the mines.

In the US, catalysts have been used for over 25 years and recovered metal now accounts for over 45% of the platinum used in new catalytic converters for cars.