Carbide Recycling

Carbide recycling is a critical process that helps ensure long-term sustainability of cemented carbide tooling and maintain a stable supply chain for users of cemented carbide products. Recycling cemented carbide gives these hard materials new life without the negative environmental impact of mining for virgin raw materials. As a global supplier of tungsten carbide products, we are uniquely positioned to help you recycle your scrap carbide and re-integrate it into the supply chain so that we can meet tool blank demands and reduce reliance on unstable supply chains.

Hyperion Materials & Technologies has select partners worldwide for cemented carbide recycling. 

Why recycle carbide?

Recycling carbide creates a win-win situation for you and Hyperion. You get a competitive rate for your scrap carbide, and, through our partners, Hyperion gets materials that we can integrate back into the supply chain. 

Why recycle carbide with Hyperion's partners?

Hyperion has qualified partners who can help get virgin-level material quality and performance from recycled carbide. By selling your scrap carbide to Hyperion’s partners, you help us get the raw materials we use in many of our carbide grades. This helps us meet the demand for quality carbide blanks without relying on specific suppliers or suppliers from locations where consistent production can’t be obtained. This shortens the supply chain for tungsten carbide materials, allowing us to optimize the manufacture of carbide blanks.

What carbide products can be recycled?

With Hyperion's partners, you can recycle used carbide tools and parts, production losses, and grinding sludge or filters. This scrap then goes through a chemical recycling process to convert it into the materials needed to produce future products. The use of recycled material also minimizes mining activity for nonrenewable resources, mainly tungsten ore.

How does tungsten carbide recycling benefit the carbide supply chain?

Tungsten is a rare element, making up only 0.001 percent of the earth’s crust, with 60 to 70 percent of the world’s reserves in China. Without recycling, the world’s tungsten supply is dependent on a small amount of ore from one country. Supply chain security is one of the key reasons Hyperion places a critical focus on recycling cemented carbide products.

How can recycling carbide help me meet my sustainability goals?

As many companies put further efforts into sustainability, tungsten carbide recycling can be an important element in reducing CO₂ emissions, as well as a company’s overall environmental impact. In general, manufacturing new tungsten carbide products from recycled tungsten carbide materials uses 70 percent less energy and emits 40 percent less carbon dioxide than virgin materials.

How do I recycle carbide?