John Shegerian and Cyclic Materials CEO Ahmad Ghahreman Speak to MIRU on the Future of Urban Mining
Electronic Recyclers International (ERI), one of the largest e-waste recyclers in the United States, announced a strategic partnership with India’s Ecoreco to launch ERI India at the MRAI-organized IBS 2026 in Tokyo on August 31.
Following the press announcement, John Shegerian, Chairman & CEO of ERI, and Ahmad Ghahreman, CEO and Founder of Cyclic Materials, spoke with MIRU about ERI’s global expansion, critical minerals, magnet recycling and the future of the circular economy.
“Go Global” — Connecting the World’s Urban Mines
Shegerian said ERI’s global strategy is based on a clear vision: “Go Global.”
ERI is expanding beyond the United States into markets including Japan, Vietnam and India, while also pursuing opportunities in other regions.
However, the company’s international expansion is not simply about establishing more recycling facilities.
ERI aims to build a global network that connects local collection and recycling operations with downstream technologies and partners, transforming e-waste into a source of critical minerals.
Shegerian sees the United States itself as a major “urban mine,” with enormous quantities of valuable materials contained in discarded electronics and appliances.
Copper, aluminum, rare earths and permanent magnets can all be recovered from products at the end of their useful lives.
From Magnets and Rare Earths to Metals and Refining
One of the areas attracting increasing attention is magnet recycling.
Magnets containing rare earth elements are widely used in electronics and household appliances, including washing machines. ERI is working to recover these materials and connect them with downstream processing partners.
Shegerian told MIRU that ERI’s vision goes beyond simply recovering rare earths.
“We are thinking all the way from rare earths to metals, and ultimately returning those materials to consumers.”
According to Cyclic Materials, ERI processes more than one million pounds of e-waste per day. Through their partnership, the companies aim to transform rare earth elements that would otherwise be lost as waste into a domestic source of critical minerals.
Ghahreman said the collaboration with ERI is designed to build a circular supply chain that aligns with U.S. economic security objectives and the country’s critical minerals policy.
This means ERI is looking at a broader value chain: E-waste → Magnet Recovery → Rare Earths → Metals → Refining → New Products → Consumers
The goal is to turn what was once considered waste into a new source of critical raw materials.
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ERI and Cyclic Materials: Connecting Recovery with Refining
This strategy is already being put into practice through ERI’s partnership with Canada-based Cyclic Materials.
ERI supplies magnet-containing scrap and pre-processed materials collected through its recycling network, while Cyclic Materials focuses on recovering and refining rare earth elements from those materials.
The two companies announced a strategic partnership in July 2026 to recover rare earths and other critical minerals from e-waste and build a domestic circular supply chain in the United States.
Ghahreman explained to MIRU that the partnership connects ERI’s large-scale collection and recycling capabilities with Cyclic Materials’ rare-earth recovery and refining technology.
While specific volumes were not disclosed, he emphasized that the partnership is aligned with U.S. policies on economic security and critical minerals, creating a circular supply chain within the country.
Ghahreman also offered a memorable description of his partner: “John is the Steve Jobs of magnet recycling.”
The comment reflects his view of Shegerian’s role in building a new business model around magnet recovery and critical-mineral recycling.
Domestic Recycling as Economic Security
Another key theme of the interview was the growing importance of domestic resource circulation.
Shegerian pointed out that the United States, Japan and Europe are all moving toward policies that encourage countries to process and recycle end-of-life products domestically.
His view is straightforward:
“Process products domestically, recycle them domestically, and consume the recovered resources domestically. That creates greater supply-chain resilience.”
For ERI, recycling is therefore not only an environmental issue. It is also connected to economic security, supply-chain resilience and data security.
ERI’s business combines e-waste recycling with IT asset disposition (ITAD), allowing the company to address both the recovery of valuable materials and the secure handling of data contained in end-of-life electronic equipment.
A Global Network Built Around Local Circular Economies
ERI’s “Go Global” strategy may appear to contrast with the growing emphasis on domestic recycling.
But Shegerian sees the two concepts as complementary.
The idea is to develop local circular economies in individual countries while connecting those operations through a global network of technology, expertise and partnerships.
The launch of ERI India, following its expansion into Japan and Vietnam, represents another step in that strategy.
For ERI, the future of e-waste recycling is not simply about collecting and processing waste.
It is about transforming urban mines into sources of critical minerals, recovering rare earths and magnets, refining those materials, and ultimately returning them to the manufacturing supply chain.
As governments and industries increasingly focus on critical-mineral security, ERI’s model of combining large-scale e-waste collection with downstream technology partnerships could become an increasingly important part of the global circular economy.
