No one said it was a zero-sum game. Nothing really is (excluding theory). I’m just gonna leave these here for good news:

The process, which has also been used on material left over from magnet manufacturing that typically goes to waste, can recover 90 to 98 percent of the rare earths, and the material is pure enough to make new magnets, Nlebedim’s team has demonstrated.

• sciencenews.org/…/recycling-rare-earth-elements-h…

Recovering up to 70 percent of lithium from battery waste without corrosive chemicals, high temperatures, and prior sorting of materials being required: This is achieved by a recycling method developed by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Mar 30, 2023

• kit.edu/…/pi_2023_015_recycling-of-batteries-70-p…