NetZeroCities

A variety of new technologies and waste recovery systems are being developed in response to European legislation and market forces that aim to recover critical raw materials (CRM) from end-of-life appliances. These diverse resource recovery processes are often regrouped under the concept of “urban mining”, which considers cities’ waste streams as economically important reserves of metals needed for digital and low-carbon technologies. Recycling waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) has been gaining increasing attention as a potentially economically important source of critical elements. Recycling WEEE avoids the environmental impact of landfilling hazardous materials while also reducing the need for primary extraction of critical materials, and the significant environmental damage extraction causes. Moreover, the EU is currently dependent on imports to supply much of it’s required critical raw materials and harvesting from waste stocks thus helps mitigate the risk that supply could be disrupted.

The specific processing route for recycling can be based on pyrometallurgical (e.g., smelting) or hydrometallurgical (e.g., leaching) routes. The optimal choice will depend largely on the material properties of the element in question, its concentration in the feedstock, and its value as a commodity. For instance, Rare Earth Elements often have diffused uses in advanced technologies, making their recovery costly due to high energy or chemical inputs needed to concentrate them. Meanwhile, printed circuit boards can contain up to ten times the concentration of precious metals as geological deposits. The EU is placing a significant emphasis through updated legislation and innovation funding on developing and upscaling methods for recovering raw materials from lithium-ion batteries and permanent magnets. Effective recovery will depend on product design, standardization, and effective recovery mechanisms alongside technical processing at the end-of-life.

Product life cycle stages & Modules (EN15978): D Reuse and Recycling

Climate and Geography:

The collection, sorting, and recycling of end-of-life products containing CRMs can take place in all European climates and geographies

Urban form and layout:

The separation of CRMs involving pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical processes can produce emissions that are harmful to human health and the environment, these activities require specific industrial zones. Dense urban forms can facilitate recovery of end-of-life products.

Technical aspects/ infrastructure:

Recovering and sorting end-of-life products requires significant infrastructure at the urban level. The refining of CRM's is also often technically challenging and energy/ chemically intensive, and will require major new investments to reach scale across Europe.

Policy and regulatory/ legal environment:

The EU Waste Framework Directive sets standards across member countries for waste treatment and incentivizes recycling where practicable. Efforts to recovery secondary CRMs will also be bolstered by the EU Critical Raw Materials Act which is expected to be ratified in 2023, with an emphasis on boosting domestic recycling capacities. The EU directives on batteries and waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) also contain measures related to extended producer responsibility for end-of-life products that can promote the recovery of CRMs.

Funding and financing:

Funding for investments in the circular economy is available via numerous EU programmes including: Horizon Europe, Regional cohesion policy, the LIFE programme, and the Single Market Programme

Economic and social context:

High income countries consume more products containing CRMs, thereby generating higher secondary feedstocks of these materials. Moreover, successfully recovering end-of-life products from consumers requires socializing the general public to the value of the materials within the goods they consume, and raising awareness about the need to return these materials to producers.

Project governance and implementation modalities:

Active citizen engagement is key to ensuring proper recovery of CRMs from hibernating or end-of-life devices. Municipalities should also work with municipal waste collection services and private actors to ensure proper sorting and recycling facilities are available at the metropolitan level.

Climate and geography:

The collection, sorting, and recycling of end-of-life products containing CRMs can take place in all European climates and geographies

Urban form and layout:

Low density urban environments are correlated with higher costs of waste collection. However, it may be hazardous to process and recycle metals within close proximity to human residences.

Technical aspects/infrastructure:

Materials with a highly dispersed use, such as is typical of Rare Earth Elements and minor metals in specialty alloys, are very energy intensive to recover, making recycling cost prohibitive. Few companies in Europe have the technical capacity to separate and refine rare earth elements, and to perform other specialized refining processes such as refining battery grade metals.

Policy and regulatory/legal framework:

Large quantities of WEEE continue to be exported illegally out of the EU into jurisdictions with low environmental standards and recycling infrastructure. The stringent workplace exposure limits for many CRMs (such as cobalt) makes it challenging to operate recycling facilities for batteries within the EU.

Funding and financing:

Companies are reluctant to invest heavily in recycling facilities for many CRMs due to the long lifespan of many products containing them, meaning end of life battery or permanent magnet feedstocks will not become widely available for the next decade. As the materials used within state-of-the-art batteries and permanent magnets are rapidly evolving, there is little certainty of demand for recycled materials 10 years from now.

Economic and social context:

An economically viable recycling business must also confront highly volatile global commodity markets, that will cause instability in their profitability. Consumers also lack knowledge of how best to return their CRM containing products at end-of-life, leaving many materials in hibernation.

Project governance and implementation modalities:

The logistics related to effective collection and sorting of CRM containing materials continue to be a major challenge limiting their effective recovery.

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