Matt Horine discusses the roughly 10 million metric tons of US e-waste generated annually, only about 15% of which is formally recycled, and how exporting it sends valuable copper, gold, and silver offshore. Guest Matt Bedingfield, global president of Mint Innovation, argues the US minerals challenge is primarily a processing and infrastructure problem, not mining, and frames e-waste as a national asset or “urban mine.” He outlines his career across metals and recycling and explains Mint’s patented biometallurgical hydrometallurgy process for recovering metals from printed circuit boards with low temperatures, lower capital cost, and traceable output. The episode highlights Mint’s March 2026 closed-loop deal with HP and plans for a first US facility in Longview, Texas, emphasizing faster, lower-permitting expansion, data destruction needs, and manufacturer actions to track end-of-life materials and supplier metal sources.

Timestamps

00:00 E-Waste Wake Up Call

01:35 Matt’s Metals Journey

04:59 E-Waste as National Asset

06:59 How Mint Recovers Metals

08:57 Scaling Beyond Smelters

10:56 HP Closed Loop Copper

12:27 Copper Shortage Reality

14:18 Permitting Energy and Trust

16:02 OEM Demand and Data Destruction

20:04 Partnering and Collection Network

21:22 Longview Texas Plant Plans