NIST Releases Report Outlining Strategies for a Sustainable U.S. Metals Processing Infrastructure

USA: Building a Sustainable Metals Infrastructure: NIST Report Highlights Key Strategies

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published a report on November 20, 2025, that outlines a roadmap for creating a more efficient, sustainable, and resilient metals‑processing sector in the United States. The document aims to improve the way metals are sourced, manufactured, reused, and recycled across the economy, thereby bolstering industrial competitiveness and national security.

Report Overview

The report, titled *Material Challenges in Developing a Sustainable Metal Processing Infrastructure*, identifies major hurdles such as the absence of robust standards for recycled content and the vulnerability of supply chains for critical materials. It emphasizes that addressing these issues is essential for reducing resource scarcity and enhancing economic stability.

Workshop Insights

Based on a NIST‑hosted workshop held in July 2024, the study reflects input from industry leaders, academic researchers, and policy makers. “The workshop brought together a diverse group of experts from industry, academia and the policy world to take on some of the biggest challenges in the metals processing space,” said NIST materials research engineer Andrew Iams, a co‑author of the report.

Critical Materials and Supply Risks

The analysis highlights the strategic importance of minerals containing lithium and cobalt—key components for smartphones, batteries, semiconductors, and medical devices—as well as superalloys used in military hardware and jet engines. Limited availability and potential supply disruptions motivate recommendations to diversify sources, explore substitute materials, and advance recycling technologies.

Strategic Recommendations

The report proposes five coordinated strategies: advancing measurement science for sustainable manufacturing, developing a technical basis for performance‑based standards on highly recycled metals such as aluminum and steel, enhancing data‑driven modeling tools to assess supply risks, promoting workforce development through training partnerships, and convening stakeholders to foster collaborative innovation.

Standards and Certification

Improving standards for metal reuse and recycling is presented as a cost‑saving measure for industry. New certification programs could verify that products containing recycled content meet performance criteria, potentially expanding market acceptance for reclaimed materials.

Workforce and Collaboration

Emphasis is placed on establishing education and training pipelines that link universities, national labs, and manufacturers. By creating structured partnerships, the report argues that the sector can accelerate technology transfer and maintain a skilled labor pool.

Looking Ahead

According to Iams, “Part of NIST’s mission is to help keep U.S. industry competitive. We can do that by identifying promising technologies and helping to move them out of the lab so they can be implemented on an industrial scale.” The agency intends to continue convening cross‑sector stakeholders to address emerging challenges and to support the implementation of the outlined strategies.This report is based on information from NIST, licensed under Public Domain (U.S. Government Work). Source: Official U.S. Government release.