Western Digital has partnered with Microsoft to launch an innovative hard drive recycling program that successfully recovers 90% of rare earth elements from data center drives, marking a major advancement in sustainable technology practices.
The Advanced Recycling and Rare Earth Material Capture Program addresses the growing challenge of e-waste from data centers, where mechanical hard drives are typically shredded at the end of their lifecycle, sending valuable materials to landfills.
Working with Critical Materials Recycling and PedalPoint Recycling, the initiative has already diverted 47,000 pounds of hardware from waste streams. The process uses an environmentally-friendly copper salt-based method that extracts rare earth oxides at up to 99.5% purity without harsh chemicals.
"HDDs are vital to our data center infrastructure, and advancing a circular supply chain is a core focus for Microsoft," said Chuck Graham, Microsoft's Corporate Vice President for cloud sourcing and supply chain.
The program comes at a critical time as China's recent export restrictions on rare earth materials threaten US technology supply chains. By keeping the entire recycling process within the United States, the initiative strengthens domestic supply while reducing environmental impact. The new method generates 95% fewer greenhouse gas emissions compared to traditional mining.
The technology, developed at the Critical Materials Innovation Hub at Ames National Laboratory, has scaled rapidly from lab to commercial demonstration in eight years. With 23,000 data centers housing 70 million servers globally, each containing multiple drives with 3-5 year lifespans, the program's potential impact on reducing e-waste is substantial.
Western Digital is now expanding the program beyond the successful Microsoft pilot to additional large-scale customers, according to Jackie Jung, WD's VP of global operations strategy and corporate sustainability.
The initiative represents a major step toward creating a circular economy in the technology sector while addressing both environmental concerns and supply chain security for critical materials.