Editorial disclosure: This page carries no sales offer and no affiliate link. It is a plain-language reference on how much of the world's platinum, palladium and rhodium supply comes from recycled scrap rather than fresh mining. We are not financial or tax advisors. Talk to a licensed professional before you act on any information here.
Last updated: August 13, 2026 · By White Metal Resources Editorial
Quick answer: Recycled or secondary supply provides roughly 20 to 25 percent of world platinum-group metal supply each year. For platinum in 2024, mine supply was 5,787 thousand troy ounces and recycling added 1,536 thousand troy ounces, or 21 percent of the total, per World Platinum Investment Council data prepared by Metals Focus. Most of that recycled metal comes from spent automobile catalytic converters, with jewelry scrap and industrial catalysts making up the rest.
Short on time? The facts that matter
- Recycling supplied about 120,000 kilograms of platinum and palladium worldwide in 2024, per United States Geological Survey Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025.
- World mine production of platinum and palladium combined was about 360,000 kilograms in 2024, so recycled metal added roughly 25 percent of total Pt plus Pd supply, computed from USGS figures.
- For platinum alone, 2024 total supply was 7,323 thousand troy ounces: 5,787 thousand from mining and 1,536 thousand from recycling, per WPIC Platinum Quarterly Q1 2026 prepared by Metals Focus.
- Of the 1,536 thousand ounces of recycled platinum in 2024, autocatalysts contributed 1,163 thousand ounces (76 percent), jewelry 298 thousand ounces (19 percent) and industrial catalysts 76 thousand ounces (5 percent), per the same source.
- The United States recovered about 45,000 kilograms of palladium and 8,500 kilograms of platinum from spent automobile catalytic converters in 2024, per USGS.
- US 2024 domestic mine production of the two metals combined was only 10,000 kilograms, so United States autocatalyst recycling produced roughly five times as much palladium and four times as much platinum as US mines, computed from USGS figures.
- Recovery efficiency for platinum-group metals inside a spent autocatalyst can reach 95 percent when the material is routed through a specialist smelter and refiner, per the International Platinum Group Metals Association.
- Recycled supply cannot expand overnight. It is bounded by how many end-of-life vehicles enter the scrap stream each year and by how much jewelry households choose to sell at a given price.
- Nothing here is a price forecast. Recycling shares move with prices and with vehicle scrappage cycles, and they are reported after the fact.
What share of PGM supply is recycled?
Two authoritative sources give the same picture from different angles. USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025 reports that about 120,000 kilograms of platinum and palladium were recovered globally from new and old scrap in 2024. Mine production of the two metals combined was about 360,000 kilograms.
That puts recycled metal at roughly 25 percent of total Pt plus Pd supply on a global basis, using USGS figures. New scrap covers manufacturing offcuts and process residues. Old scrap covers end-of-life products such as spent catalytic converters, worn jewelry and used industrial catalysts.
The World Platinum Investment Council, whose data is prepared by Metals Focus, publishes a more granular breakdown for platinum alone. Total platinum supply in 2024 was 7,323 thousand troy ounces: 5,787 thousand from mining and 1,536 thousand from recycling. That is a recycled share of 21 percent.
The two figures are consistent. USGS bundles platinum and palladium into one recovered-scrap number that includes all new and old scrap routes. WPIC breaks platinum out by end-of-life category. Both point to a secondary supply share of about one-fifth to one-quarter of the total.
What are the three main recycling streams?
Recycled PGM supply flows through three distinct streams. Each has its own collection channel, its own economics and its own recovery efficiency. The three together define what recycling can and cannot do for world supply.
| Stream | 2024 platinum recovered (koz) | Share of recycled platinum | Share of total platinum supply |
|---|---|---|---|
| Autocatalyst recycling | 1,163 | 75.7% | 15.9% |
| Jewelry recycling | 298 | 19.4% | 4.1% |
| Industrial recycling | 76 | 4.9% | 1.0% |
| Total recycled | 1,536 | 100% | 21.0% |
| Mining (for reference) | 5,787 | n/a | 79.0% |
| Total supply | 7,323 | n/a | 100% |
Source: World Platinum Investment Council Platinum Quarterly Q1 2026, summary table 1, prepared for WPIC by Metals Focus. Shares computed by us from the koz figures. Values rounded.
Autocatalyst recycling is the largest by a wide margin. Jewelry recycling is a distant second, and industrial catalyst recycling a distant third. This ordering has held for many years across the WPIC quarterly series.
The mix is not identical for palladium or rhodium, but the ordering is similar. Both metals are heavily used in gasoline three-way catalytic converters, so autocatalyst recycling dominates their secondary supply too. Neither is used in jewelry at meaningful scale, so their jewelry recycling stream is much smaller than platinum's.
Why do autocatalysts dominate the recycled tonnage?
Every gasoline and diesel light-duty vehicle sold in a regulated market carries a catalytic converter. That converter holds a few grams of platinum-group metal spread across a ceramic honeycomb, and every one of those vehicles eventually reaches end of life.
The volumes add up. The global light-duty vehicle fleet is measured in the low billions, and end-of-life vehicle scrappage runs into the tens of millions per year in mature markets. Each retired vehicle sends its converter into a recovery chain that ends at a specialist smelter and refiner.
Recovery efficiency is high once the material reaches the refiner. The International Platinum Group Metals Association reports that over 95 percent of the PGM content of a spent autocatalyst can be recovered when the material is routed through state-of-the-art smelting and precious-metal refining.
The bottleneck is collection, not chemistry. Converters that stay attached to vehicles which end up as informal scrap, or which are dumped whole, never reach the refiner. The share of scrapped vehicles whose converters are captured and processed is the single biggest lever on autocatalyst recycling volumes.
How much recycled platinum comes from jewelry scrap?
Jewelry recycling supplied 298 thousand ounces of platinum in 2024, per WPIC data. That is about 19 percent of total recycled platinum and about 4 percent of total 2024 platinum supply. It rose to 356 thousand ounces in 2025 as prices climbed, per the same source.
The jewelry stream is concentrated in China and Japan. Both countries have deep platinum jewelry traditions, sophisticated take-back channels through jewelers and refiners, and populations who treat platinum jewelry as a store of value that can be sold back for cash when prices are attractive.
The stream is very price sensitive. When the platinum price rose in the first quarter of 2026, WPIC reported that recycling grew 7 percent year on year, driven in part by higher jewelry scrap flow. When prices are flat or falling, jewelry scrap volumes fall too.
The United States and Europe are minor contributors to platinum jewelry recycling because platinum jewelry ownership per household is much lower than in China or Japan. The recycled ounces that flow from these markets come mostly from dealer buy-backs and estate liquidation rather than routine turnover.
What role do industrial catalysts play?
Industrial recycling supplied 76 thousand ounces of platinum in 2024, per WPIC. That is under 5 percent of recycled platinum and about 1 percent of total supply. The stream is small in tonnage but very high in recovery efficiency because collection is essentially guaranteed.
The main sources are spent chemical and petroleum refining catalysts. Platinum is used as a catalyst in petroleum reforming, in nitric acid production and in various chemical processes. These catalysts are leased or sold to industrial customers who ship them back to the refiner at end of life.
The industry calls this closed-loop recycling. The refiner knows exactly where the metal is, when it will come back, and in what condition. Recovery rates approach the 95 percent maximum quoted by the IPA because the material never leaves professional custody.
Palladium industrial recycling follows the same closed-loop pattern, mostly from chemical catalysts. Rhodium industrial recycling is smaller in absolute terms but proportionally significant given how little rhodium is produced in the first place.
How does a spent converter become refined metal?
The recycling path for a used catalytic converter runs through six steps. It is a shortened version of the mine-to-bar chain, skipping the mining, milling and base-metal refining stages. What is left is the smelting and precious-metal refining that finish any PGM ounce.
The overall time from converter collection to refined metal in the market is typically several months. This lag is why recycling responds to sustained price moves rather than short-term spikes. A refiner will not accelerate a batch through the process on a single week of price strength.
What does the picture look like for the United States?
USGS reports the United States figure in kilograms. In 2024, about 45,000 kilograms of palladium and 8,500 kilograms of platinum were recovered from automobile catalytic converters in the United States. Both numbers dwarf US mine production of the same metals in the same year.
Compare that to US mine production of the same two metals: USGS estimates 8,000 kilograms of palladium and 2,000 kilograms of platinum in 2024, all from a single company in Montana. US autocatalyst recycling produced roughly five and a half times as much palladium and four times as much platinum as US mines that year.
| Metal | US mine production | US autocatalyst recycling | Recycling as multiple of mining | US apparent consumption |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Palladium | 8,000 kg | 45,000 kg | 5.6× | 83,000 kg |
| Platinum | 2,000 kg | 8,500 kg | 4.3× | 71,000 kg |
Source: USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025, Platinum-Group Metals chapter. Salient Statistics table for United States mine production, apparent consumption and autocatalyst recycling; recycling ratios computed by us.
The country still relies heavily on imports because domestic sources cannot cover consumption. USGS reports net import reliance of 85 percent for platinum and 36 percent for palladium in 2024. Autocatalyst recycling reduces the import bill without eliminating it.
If you hold physical PGM inside a retirement account, this recycling story sits behind the metal but does not directly affect you. The bar or coin in an approved depository is finished, assayed and bonded, and it entered the market as either mined or recycled ounces without a visible label. For the retirement-account rules for these metals, see our platinum IRA guide.
What about palladium and rhodium specifically?
USGS does not publish a country-by-country breakdown of palladium recycling or rhodium recycling in its annual summary. It reports the combined platinum and palladium global recycling figure, and the United States autocatalyst recycling split by metal, but not the world palladium or rhodium totals separately.
Industry publications from Johnson Matthey, Heraeus and Metals Focus do publish these figures in their subscription reports. They generally show palladium recycling running in the 20 to 30 percent range of total palladium supply, and rhodium recycling in a similar band, both dominated by autocatalyst recovery.
Rhodium recycling is proportionally important because global rhodium production is small in absolute terms, typically under 1,000 thousand ounces per year. A recycled rhodium stream of a few hundred thousand ounces is a meaningful share of total supply. This is one reason rhodium prices swing sharply when either mining or scrappage patterns shift.
None of these breakdowns is a price forecast. The autocatalyst recycling stream is bounded by end-of-life vehicle flows, which are set by fleet age and scrappage rates years in advance. Jewelry and industrial streams flex with price but neither can double in a single year without a matching change in the underlying scrap flow.
Limits and caveats to this data
Every number on this page rounds. USGS estimates mine production and recycling in kilograms rounded to the nearest hundred or thousand. WPIC platinum figures are reported in thousand troy ounces (koz) rounded to the nearest thousand ounces. Shares computed from these totals inherit the rounding.
USGS combines platinum and palladium into one "PGM recovered from new and old scrap" figure at the global level. It does not separate them, and it does not extend the country-level detail beyond the United States. For metal-specific recycling by country, industry reports are the granular source and most of them are paywalled.
WPIC data is authoritative for platinum but does not cover palladium or rhodium in the same public depth. The palladium and rhodium numbers used in industry commentary come from Metals Focus, Johnson Matthey and Heraeus subscription reports, which we do not reproduce here without a licensed source.
Nothing on this page is a price forecast. Recycling shares move with prices, with vehicle scrappage cycles and with jewelry take-back activity. The 2024 numbers are backward-looking. What secondary supply will do next quarter or next year is not knowable from historical shares alone.
Frequently asked questions
What share of world platinum supply comes from recycling?
About 21 percent in 2024, per WPIC data prepared by Metals Focus. Mining supplied 5,787 thousand troy ounces and recycling added 1,536 thousand ounces, for a total supply of 7,323 thousand ounces. The recycled share rose to 23 percent in 2025 and is forecast at 25 percent in 2026.
What share of world palladium and platinum supply comes from recycling combined?
About 25 percent in 2024. USGS reports 120,000 kilograms of platinum and palladium recovered globally from new and old scrap that year, against mine production of 190,000 kilograms of palladium and 170,000 kilograms of platinum, for a 360,000 kilogram mine total.
What is the biggest source of recycled PGM?
Spent automobile catalytic converters. For platinum in 2024, autocatalysts contributed 1,163 thousand ounces of the 1,536 thousand ounce recycled total, or about 76 percent, per WPIC. Palladium and rhodium recycling follow the same pattern.
How much PGM does the United States recycle from converters?
About 45,000 kilograms of palladium and 8,500 kilograms of platinum in 2024, per USGS. That is roughly five times the country's palladium mine output and four times its platinum mine output for the same year.
How efficient is autocatalyst recycling?
Over 95 percent of the PGM content of a spent autocatalyst can be recovered when the material is routed through a specialist smelter and precious-metal refinery, per the International Platinum Group Metals Association. The bottleneck is collection, not chemistry.
Where does the recycled platinum jewelry come from?
Mostly China and Japan, where platinum jewelry ownership per household is high and take-back channels are well established. The stream is very price sensitive: it rose 20 percent in 2025 versus 2024 per WPIC, tracking the platinum price rally.
Can recycling replace mining if mine output drops?
Not in a single year. Recycling is bounded by how many end-of-life vehicles enter the scrap stream and by how much jewelry households choose to sell. Both flows respond to price with a lag of months to years. A sudden mine outage cannot be filled by an equal ramp in scrap.
Does recycled PGM sell at a different price than mined PGM?
No. Once refined to LBMA standards, a recycled ounce is chemically and physically identical to a mined ounce and trades at the same benchmark price. The 995 parts per thousand fineness rule applies to both routes, per LBMA good delivery rules.
Sources
- United States Geological Survey. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025: Platinum-Group Metals. January 2025. World and United States mine production, autocatalyst recycling, apparent consumption and import reliance.
- United States Geological Survey. Platinum-Group Metals Statistics and Information hub. National Minerals Information Center. Historical series and methodology notes.
- World Platinum Investment Council. Platinum Quarterly Q1 2026. Prepared for WPIC by Metals Focus, May 2026. Supply-demand summary table with mining and recycling by stream (autocatalyst, jewellery, industrial).
- International Platinum Group Metals Association. Mining and Recycling. IPA overview page on primary versus secondary production and the 95 percent recovery efficiency for spent autocatalysts.
- Johnson Matthey. PGM Market Reports. Industry-standard reference used for background on palladium and rhodium recycling streams. Detailed metal-by-metal recycled tonnage figures are published in subscription reports we do not reproduce here.
- London Bullion Market Association. Good Delivery Rules for Platinum and Palladium. Bar weights and 995 parts per thousand minimum fineness, applicable to both mined and recycled metal.
