CASE STUDY
Critical Materials
Turning a complex legislative mandate into a practical roadmap for an emerging industry.
CLIENT: Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
Overview
Minnesota launched the first state task force in the United States focused on critical materials recovery and recycling. Charged with developing recommendations for 56 critical minerals used in modern technology, the Task Force faced a complex challenge: limited domestic supply, rapidly evolving technologies, fragmented government responsibilities, and competing stakeholder priorities.
SDK was hired by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) to help create a practical roadmap and support the Task Force in developing recommendations that could guide future policy, investment, and implementation.
Building the Right Playbook
Critical materials circularity touches multiple parts of Minnesota's economy and government, from resource extraction and infrastructure to recycling and advanced manufacturing. Success depends on understanding how those systems connect and where opportunities exist to recover value throughout the lifecycle of critical materials.
SDK helped the Task Force build that shared understanding through original research and analytical frameworks, including a Recycling Feasibility Framework that evaluated all 56 materials based on technology readiness, economic viability, and recovery potential. The framework provided a common fact base that stakeholders could use to assess options, identify priorities, and develop recommendations grounded in both technical realities and long-term implementation needs.
Result: A shared decision-making framework capable of supporting complex policy discussions and future implementation.
Navigating Complexity
The Task Force included agencies, tribal nations, labor organizations, environmental advocates, researchers, recyclers, manufacturers, and technology representatives. SDK helped translate highly technical information into accessible decision tools that stakeholders could understand, evaluate, and use.
A key insight emerged from the research: successful critical materials recovery depends on reliable industrial-scale supply streams, not simply consumer recycling programs. This finding helped reframe the discussion around infrastructure, supply chains, and long-term industry development.
Throughout the process, SDK worked with the Task Force to produce its final report while also documenting the supporting research and rationale behind the recommendations.
Result: Complex technical, economic, and environmental considerations were transformed into a coherent roadmap for action.
Creating Audit- and Headline-Proof Outcomes
The Task Force ultimately adopted a shared vision, guiding principles, strategic goals, and recommendations spanning reduction and reuse, consumer recycling, business and industrial recovery, and broader circular systems.
The work also established a foundation for cross-agency coordination, workforce development, innovation, and future industry growth. Environmental protection remained the first principle throughout the process, while tribal engagement, workforce considerations, and operational realities were incorporated from the beginning.
Result: Stakeholders with diverse interests reached consensus on a practical framework for building Minnesota's critical materials future.
Shaping Tomorrow
Critical materials recovery is an emerging field where governments cannot rely on decades of precedent. Minnesota's work represents an early blueprint for how states can approach circularity, supply-chain resilience, and recovery infrastructure in a rapidly changing economy.
For SDK, the project reinforced a core strength: helping organizations navigate new and complex challenges by turning technical uncertainty into actionable frameworks. When existing systems are not designed for tomorrow's problems, progress requires new ways of thinking, new governance models, and clear paths forward.
Result: A foundation for future policy development and industry growth, supported by frameworks that make complex issues understandable and actionable for decision-makers.