Cyclic Materials and Lime, the world's largest provider of shared micromobility electric vehicles, are partnering to recycle magnets from retired electric motors powering e-bikes and e-scooters across Canada and the United States. The agreement marks the first at-scale recycling initiative focused on rare earth magnets in North America in the micromobility sector.

Under the new partnership, Cyclic will recover rare earth materials from decommissioned motors from vehicles in Lime’s US and Canadian markets. The agreement will be serviced primarily through Cyclic’s recently announced Mesa, Arizona facility as well as its Kingston, Ontario location, bringing scalable and sustainable rare earth recycling to one of the fastest-growing clean transportation segments.

Today, less than 1% of rare earth magnets are recycled globally, leaving an ‘above-ground mine’ of more than 43,000 metric tonnes of end-of-life NdFeB magnets expected in the US alone by 2035, according to Adamas Intelligence.

Cyclic and Lime will leverage Cyclic Materials’ MagCycle and REEPure technologies to recover rare earth magnets from end-of-life vehicles. This collaboration unlocks a critical, untapped resource and establishes a new benchmark for circularity in clean mobility. This partnership builds on Cyclic’s rapid growth momentum and strengthens both companies’ leadership in advancing circular solutions for the clean energy transition.

With a fleet of more than 270,000 EVs and hundreds of millions of rides taken globally, Lime is a global leader in sustainable urban transportation and critical transportation in cities across North America and the world. Lime says it has achieved a 59.5% reduction in CO₂ emissions since 2019 on its path to net-zero by 2030 and expects to share 2024 results in the coming months.

Cyclic and Lime plan to begin operations in the coming weeks, with initial shipments already planned while activities are expected to ramp up throughout 2025.