At just 28 years old, French-American chemist Marie Perrin is turning everyday electronic waste into an environmental win that could benefit the whole planet. Her inventive process to recycle rare earth elements — materials used in everything from smartphones to wind turbines — has earned her one of the top honours at the 2025 Young Inventors Prize. Marie is leading the way to recycle rare earths sustainably.
Rare earth elements such as europium are essential in green technologies, but traditional extraction from the Earth is energy-intensive, expensive and produces vast amounts of toxic waste. In Europe, less than 1 % of these metals are currently recycled, so most new supply still comes from mining.
By adopting innovative processes, we can effectively recycle rare earths and reduce reliance on mining.
Marie’s innovation, developed during her research at ETH Zürich, flips that problem on its head. Her process recovers rare earth metals from discarded electronic items like fluorescent lamps using a cleaner, more sustainable method that avoids the pollution and chemical load of conventional recycling and extraction.
Award winning work
At the award ceremony in Reykjavík, Iceland, Marie was celebrated as the recipient of the World Builders special prize, one of three honours given to standout innovators aged 30 and under. The event recognised young scientists whose work pushes forward the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, from climate action to responsible resource use.
Marie described her prize as “an outstanding recognition” of years of hard work and dedication to sustainability. She said she was “super grateful for everyone who believed in this technology,” and hopes the visibility the award brings will help her secure the industrial partnerships needed to bring her process to wider use.
Why does this matter? Rare earth elements are in almost every modern device and are crucial for clean energy systems like electric vehicle motors and wind turbines. But mining these materials can generate up to 2,000 tonnes of toxic waste for every tonne extracted. By developing a scalable way to recycle these elements from waste, Marie’s work supports a circular economy — where valuable materials stay in play instead of being discarded.
Her success also highlights a broader wave of young innovators tackling global challenges. This year’s Young Inventors Prize honoured ideas from biodegradable food packaging to new carbon capture materials — technologies that together point toward a cleaner, more sustainable future.
For Marie Perrin, the journey is just beginning. Her invention, sometimes known as REEcover, shows that bold ideas from young minds can reshape industries and help protect the world we all share.
