Whilst the WEEE Forum acknowledges that much more waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) must be separately collected for responsible management and to recover (critical) materials, we also believe that it highlights the need to thoroughly revise waste legislation.

Under Directive 2012/19/EU on WEEE, the minimum collection rate to be achieved annually by the Member States is set at 65% of the average weight of electrical and electronic equipment placed on the market in the three preceding years in the Member State concerned, or alternatively 85% of WEEE generated on the territory of that Member State. The majority of Member States failed to collect sufficient WEEE separately and therefore missed the EU collection target. The Commission says that “Member States should boost their implementation efforts in order to meet the abovementioned obligations”.

“Whilst it is undeniably true that more WEEE must be separately collected, in view of proper re-use, repair or recycling, and that waste legislation must be adequately implemented and enforced, Member States’ failure in meeting the minimum collection rates underscores the urgency of a thorough rethink of waste legislation and its implementation and the importance of a reform of the Extended Producer Responsibility principle along #allactors principles” says Pascal Leroy, Director General of the WEEE Forum.

Over the past twenty years, PROs have invested millions in measures, chief among them were awareness campaigns and collection infrastructure, driving up not only collection volumes but also collected kilogram per inhabitant. Yet despite all these investments, after more than twenty years of WEEE legislation, Bulgaria and Slovakia are reportedly the only Member States that meet the minimum collection rate of 65% as defined by Directive 2012/19/EU on WEEE – see the Annex of total collection rate in the EU in 2021. The average collection rate in the EU barely exceeds 45%.

During the last few years, the WEEE Forum has consistently argued that the minimum collection rate methodology is not meaningful, and therefore not fit for purpose, for three distinct reasons: it has a perverse effect, it is ill-suited for circularity strategies, and it is distortive.

Perverse

The minimum collection rate has a perverse effect: the more WEEE is disposed of, the easier it is for that Member State to meet the minimum collection rate. Countries where people do not return their end-of-life appliances to a collection point to have them repaired or recycled, but repair them themselves, or give them a second life by sharing them with relatives, will generate a smaller volume of WEEE and therefore show lower collection rates. The EU seeks to promote circularity initiatives, not a pro forma higher collection rate.

Ill-suited for circularity

In an age where we strive to make our economy more circular, the current minimum collection rate fails to measure progress towards circularity in terms of products being reused or products’ lives being extended. The current methodology does not measure reduction of consumption, consumers’ hoarding, and circular consumer behaviour, which would be constituents of a much more powerful set of circularity metrics.

Distortive

The placed-on-market method looks at the preceding three years and does not take account of the full lifecycle of electrical and electronic equipment. Some products, notably photovoltaics and air conditioning equipment, washing machines and refrigerators, have a lifetime of, respectively, minimum 20-25 and 10–15 years. Therefore, the 65% minimum rate based on the preceding three years is meaningless. In the Member States where photovoltaics and other household appliances are clustered in the same product category, that category fails to reach the minimum collection rate due to the long lifespan of photovoltaics, which in turn induces the competent authorities to issue penalties and requiring PROs to collect higher volumes of non-photovoltaic products in order to reach the targeted volumes for photovoltaic panels. Such penalties distort the market and the principle of Extended Producer Responsibility and are therefore unacceptable.

A draft final study supporting the evaluation of Directive 2012/19/EU, authored by a consortium of Ramboll, Umweltbundesamt and Öko-Institut in 2023, came to a similar conclusion: “Current calculation methodology usually applied are incoherent in so far as the long lifespan of some products are not taken into account”.

Call for action

For all the above reasons, the WEEE Forum suggests the following:

A. Revise the Waste Framework and WEEE legislation
Pursuant to the most recent amendment to Directive 2012/19/EU, the impact assessment in view of a revision of the Directive must evaluate, inter alia,

• elements related to the waste hierarchy,
• the obligation not to burden consumers with disproportionate costs,
• provisions ensuring full implementation and enforcement of this Directive, in particular with regard to adequate collection targets,
• measures aimed at preventing illegal trade of WEEE,
• a new ‘photovoltaic panels’ category.

B. Design and develop circularity metrics
The minimum WEEE collection rate methodology must measure all aspects of the circular economy, such as reduction of consumption, the global economy, market trends, consumers’ hoarding, and circular consumer behaviour, which would be constituents of a much more powerful set of circularity metrics. Legislation must identify alternative performance indicators more akin to a circular economy.

C. Evaluate, improve and harmonise Eurostat system of waste statistics
The validity and robustness of the Eurostat system of waste statistics must be made subject to a thorough, critical evaluation and revision, involving consultation of stakeholders.

D. Put the #allactors principle into practice
It takes a village to solve the e-waste problem; e-waste is a societal challenge. The 2023 amendment to the Directive says that “provisions ensuring full implementation and enforcement of this Directive, specifically concerning adequate collection targets, as well as preventing illegal trade of WEEE” must be assessed. The Member States must enforce the legal obligations of all actors and an EU enforcement agency must be empowered to audit the Member States obligations. The #allactors principle, underlining the importance of collective, collaborative action and good governance, must lie at the heart of the revised Extended Producer Responsibility policy approach: all entities that have access to e-waste are subject to minimum legal obligations and actively collaborate towards responsible operations.

E. Integrate EPR waste objectives in the wider framework of materials management
Beyond the Waste Framework legislation, the EU is in need of a policy framework for managing materials through the lens of circularity. We cannot achieve climate goals without becoming more circular. Reducing dependence on materials will contribute to our resilience.

Tess Pozzi, Chair of EuRIC’s WEEE working group and Head of EU Public Affairs at Derichebourg Environnement, kicked off the meeting by emphasising the need for ambitious policies to increase the use of recycled materials in new products on the EU Market. Aurel Ciobanu-Dordea, the European Commission’s Circular Economy Director (DG ENV), highlighted the potential of the circular economy to enhance EU competitiveness, security, strategic autonomy, and decarbonisation. “Geopolitical actors with control of CRM resources have tried and are actively weaponising them”, he noted.

Ioannis Bakas, circular economy monitoring expert at the European Environment Agency (EEA), identified the need for more binding, target-oriented policies, value chain-specific strategies, high-quality recycling, strong demand, and safe and sustainable-by-design products.

The first panel on the role of e-waste in a circular economy featured Fanny Rateau (ECOS), Pascal Leroy (WEEE Forum), Korrina Hegarty (APPLiA), Ulf Arnesson (Stena Metalls), John Wante (Belgian Federal Ministry of Environment), and Dr. Annett Linemann (H.B Fuller/FEICA). They called for enhanced and increased collection, including while products are still repairable, prevention of illegal e-waste exports, better dialogue between recyclers and manufacturers, consumer incentives, easier product disassembly and longer lifespan, and technologically neutral legislation.

“We should be considered as producers of recycled raw materials, not just recyclers,” urged Christian Winkler (Remondis Electrorecycling), presenting the high-quality output material that the recycling industry is able to produce due to continuous investments.

The second panel discussion on closing the loop in the e-plastics value chain featured Laura Baillargeon (EU Commission, DG Grow), Pablo Leon (Sostenplas), Federico Magalini (Dss+) and Judit Guerra-Falcon (Plastics Europe). They stressed the need for a concrete methodology for recycled content targets, thorough assessments before decisions, a level playing field with foreign actors, addressing export challenges posed by the new waste shipment rules, and ways to create resilient supply chains for plastics.

The DG Grow official outlined the challenges for recycled plastic in Europe, including competition with virgin plastics, cheaper imported recycled plastics, and the competitiveness of the EU plastic recycling industry. She also called for a reality check to ensure new EU measures are feasible and profitable for recyclers.

We extend our gratitude to all speakers for their valuable insights, to our moderator for facilitating the discussions, and to participants from all the different sectors, including recyclers, EPR schemes, NGOs, electronics manufacturers, research bodies, and EU officials. Our event sent a strong message: e-waste recycling and ecodesign must go hand-in-hand. To achieve e-waste circularity, we need incentives for recyclers, consumer empowerment, and a legal framework with fit-for-purpose targets and provisions that ensure a level playing field and drive demand for recycled materials within the EU.

A significant new feature of the PG Power Granulator is the use of four sieve segments instead of a single, heavy standard sieve, as found in the ZM series. These sieve segments are lighter and easier to replace than a continuous sieve basket. In case of damage to the sieve, only the affected sieve segment needs replacement, not the entire sieve basket, resulting in optimized maintenance costs.

Another new feature is the hydraulically swiveling sieve basket. Previously, with the ZM Granulator, when changing the heavy sieve, the discharge unit had to be removed for assembly and disassembly, requiring at least two people and a transport trolley. The hydraulically swiveling sieve basket and easily manageable sieve segments eliminate this effort, accelerating and simplifying maintenance while reducing maintenance costs.

THM Recycling Solutions has equipped the PG Power Granulator with a larger inlet opening to increase throughput performance by accommodating more material. Additionally, the PG Power Granulator has sleeker dimensions compared to the ZM machine series, requiring less space and facilitating better integration into overall systems.

The study, published in Joule, highlights a growing environmental threat from these increasingly popular vape pens, which are not designed to be recharged.

Disposable e-cigarettes have skyrocketed in popularity in the UK since 2021, with a survey finding an 18-fold increase recorded between January 2021 and April 2022. Within 15 months, their popularity among 18-year-olds rose from 0.4% to 54.8%.

This has led to new waste problems, with about 1.3 million of the devices thrown away in the nation each week. As a result, about 10,000 kilograms of lithium from e-cigarette batteries wind up in UK landfills each year, threatening nearby waterways with toxic nickel, cobalt, and organic solvents.

The research team had a hunch that the batteries used in disposable e-cigarettes were rechargeable, but were not aware of any previous studies that had assessed how long the lithium-ion batteries in these products are capable of lasting.

Hamish Reid, first author of the study from UCL Chemical Engineering, said: “Popularity in single-use vapes has exploded recently. Despite being sold as disposable, our research has shown that the lithium-ion batteries stored within them are capable of being charged and discharged over 450 times. This work highlights the huge waste of limited resources caused by disposable vapes.”

To test their hunch, researchers at UCL and the University of Oxford harvested batteries from disposable e-cigarettes under controlled conditions, then assessed them using the same tools and techniques used to study batteries in electric vehicles and other devices.

They examined the batteries under microscopes and used X-ray tomography to map their internal structure and understand the constituent materials. By repeatedly charging and discharging the batteries, they determined how well the batteries maintained their electrochemical performance over time, finding that they could be recharged many hundreds of times in some cases.

Professor Paul Shearing, senior author of the paper from UCL Chemical Engineering and the University of Oxford, said: “The surprise for us were the results that pointed toward just how long these batteries could potentially cycle. If you use a low charge and discharge rate, you can see that for over 700 cycles, you still have more than 90% capacity retention. That’s a pretty good battery, actually. And these are just being discarded. They’re being chucked on the side of the road.

“As a bare minimum, the public needs to be aware of the types of batteries going into these devices and the need to properly dispose of them. Manufacturers should provide the ecosystem for reuse and recycling of e-cigarette batteries, and also should be moving towards rechargeable devices as the default.”

Professor Shearing and his team are also researching new, more selective ways to recycle batteries that allow individual components to be recovered without cross-contamination, as well as more sustainable battery chemistries, including post-lithium ion, lithium sulfur, and sodium ion batteries.

To address challenges across the entire battery supply chain, scientists should consider batteries’ life cycles when thinking about any of their applications.

“That permeates all the work we do, really, whether it’s a vape battery or whether it’s a battery going into an electric helicopter,” said Professor Shearing. “It’s the same kind of thought process where we need to fully understand the life cycle of a battery device.”

This work was supported by the EPSRC CASE Award; the Faraday Institution; the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT); and the Royal Academy of Engineering for the Chair in Emerging Technologies; and the National Physical Laboratory (NPL).

On the one hand, the amount of disposal material continues to grow strongly in international terms. On the other hand, consumers, companies and politicians are increasingly realising that there must be a joint rethink. In addition to a reduction of electronic waste, a change in repair behaviour and a rethink of consumption, recycling, and reuse must be further promoted.

It is also for this reason that the Swiss recycling specialist Immark has replaced and expanded its previous electronic scrap processing facility at its Regensdorf site with a state-of-the-art recycling plant. What is new here is that Immark can process the material using state-of-the-art technology. The new plant aims to contribute to environmentally friendly recycling with state-of-the-art technology. The focus is on the removal of harmful substances from the electronic scrap as well as the recovery of clean fractions such as iron, various non-ferrous metals and plastics.

Innovative technology optimises the recycling process

Patrick Wollenmann, team leader for technology at Immark: “The special thing about the system is not only that the latest technology was installed here. In the development of the processing method, we also focused on relieving the manual sorters as much as possible and at the same time achieving the purest possible material fractions.“

After all, these are essential for an economical and, at the same time, environmentally friendly processing of recycling raw materials. Precise screening according to material size is a must for the downstream sorting equipment to sort the material according to material and quality. The “cleaner” these are supplied, the more efficiently, and accurately, they can process the material streams.

This means that only by having material streams sorted cleanly by size can the downstream sorting technology subsequently sort with high performance according to material and material properties.

Patrick Wollenmann: “Economically and for the environment, it is best if we manage to recycle a wide variety of electrical devices in such a way that in the end, very clean individual materials can be recovered from them. This is how we make the greatest contribution to resource recovery and thus to environmental protection.”

A question of material

As a partner for conveying & separation technology, Spaleck was able to contribute to the realisation of the new plant by supplying conveying equipment and screening machines. To achieve the desired material purity, a special conveying aggregate from Spaleck was used, among other solutions. Marcel van Reimersdahl, expert for Spaleck screening technology: “For the new Immark plant, we used our combination unit, which optimally supplies the downstream optical sorting units.”

In addition to the precisely matched feed width, another important quality component was implemented: The screening of the disadvantageous fine fraction. Marcel van Reimersdahl: “The performance of a sorter depends significantly on the material feed. Our continuous and optimal feeding over the entire belt width enables the sorter to perform at its maximum capacity and thus achieve the best return on investment. To achieve even better results, we have eliminated another central cause of malfunction in practice: The contamination of the material by fines.”

For this task, the Spaleck combined system screens out unwanted fines < 8 mm with a special screening panel during feeding. This means that only the material that really fits into the sorting process enters the machine. This can be optimally detected and processed by the sorting device. Screening in the feeding process ensures extremely effective prevention of contamination and sticking of the sorting belt and improves the sorting quality in the long term.

“In this way, we manage to achieve very high levels of purity in all fractions with the new processing plant,” says Patrick Wollenmann with pleasure.

High-performance screening technology customised in advance

At the beginning of the recycling process, after shredding and initial manual sorting, two Spaleck single-deck screens from the German machine manufacturer are also used.

Marcel van Reimersdahl: “Already in the planning phase of the project, we carried out comprehensive screening tests together with the Immark team at our Spaleck test center. These tests with Immark material enabled us to test the screening process and the target fractions under very realistic conditions in advance. This allowed us to determine the optimum technical equipment for the screening machines and ensure that very high-quality material fractions are achieved in live operation.”

To be specific, fractions of 20 to 60 mm and 20 to 70 mm are generated. “Spaleck’s special screening media and efficient screening technology enable us to generate high-quality fractions that meet the requirements of state-of-the-art electronic scrap recycling. It is important for us that we exceed the legal requirements with our new plant and make a contribution to protecting the environment,” says Patrick Wollenmann with delight. Marcel van Reimersdahl adds, “The Immark team can be very proud of this highly complex and efficient electronic scrap processing plant.”

The project will see Enva continue its partnership with Andritz, one of the world’s leading providers of material separation and recovery technology providers. The Andritz solution will incorporate the latest degassing and storage equipment, the ADuro QZ shredder and separation technologies designed to capture a range of materials including ferrous and non-ferrous metals, polyurethane, and plastics. The nature of the shredder technology means any potentially hazardous components are left intact, so they can be managed without any negative impact on the environment. Once operational, the site will recycle and recover over 98% of a fridge’s components.

Scotland has not had any domestic fridge recycling capacity since Shore’s facility was closed following a fire in February 2023 and the redeveloped site will restore this essential solution for our customers. It will also provide an alternative to transporting waste fridges long distances to other parts of the UK for processing, which has significant commercial and environmental impacts.

The £10 million investment will enable Enva to attain the highest possible recycling standards. This will include ensuring that the new facility is accredited to the independently audited WEEELABEX standard.

In addition to having the potential to manage all Scotland’s waste fridges, the Perth facility will also be able to recycle over 10,000 tonnes a year of small domestic appliances such as kettles, toasters, vacuum cleaners, and coffee machines.

This is leading to a similarly expanding rate of e-waste. A bold and urgent answer is needed from the EU to mitigate environmental damage caused by Europe’s exponentially growing reliance on electronics.

27 environmental NGOs call on the European Commission to rapidly overhaul the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE Directive). Sustainability and the circular economy must play a larger role in future legislation if we are to stay within our planet’s limits – the WEEE Directive offers a valuable opportunity to introduce sufficiency measures for electronics. Its current focus on waste management is inadequate. We call for the WEEE Directive to be revised early in the next Commission’s term. It must include stronger circular economy and sustainable design principles, as well as a material footprint reduction target for electronics.

Eurostat’s new data confirms the trend of more electronics entering the EU market – and more e-waste as a result:

• More than 13 million tonnes of electrical and electronic equipment was sold in the EU in 2021 – an increase of over 85% since 2013.
• Per inhabitant, the biggest consumers of electrical and electronic equipment in the EU are the Netherlands (35.1 kg), Germany (31.3 kg), Denmark (30.7 kg), France (30.5 kg) and Belgium (29.2 kg).
• In 2021, 4.9 million tonnes of e-waste was registered – 3.9% more than in 2020.

This trend is worrying and needs to be reversed. Increasing consumption of electronic devices depletes valuable resources (such as lithium, palladium, and copper), escalates energy demand, and inflicts environmental harm during raw material extraction. This is even worse if equipment is short-lived, difficult to repair, or disposed of incorrectly – which is the case in Europe, where on average, smartphones are replaced every 2–3 years. To mitigate the emissions of such a short use, smartphones would need to last for 25 to 232 years.

Concerningly, gaps in data collection [6] also suggest that large quantities of e-waste are still illegally disposed of as residual waste or illegal exports. Improper disposal of electronics causes significant environmental damage, including lost opportunities for the reuse and recycling of devices and materials, fires ignited by lithium-ion batteries, and the release of pollutants into the environment.

Fanny Rateau, Programme Manager at ECOS – Environmental Coalition on Standards, said: “Our electronics consumption keeps increasing without any consideration for our planet’s capacity. E-waste is piling up – not being reused, not being repaired. The embedded precious metals will not find their way back into the ground. On average, every person in the EU adds more than 16kg of electronic waste to Europe’s e-waste mountain every year [5] – but the WEEE Directive is too weak to limit the environmental damage. It must be rapidly revamped to match the scale of the problem and ensure that we live within our means.”

Barbara Metz, Executive Director of Environmental Action Germany (Deutsche Umwelthilfe – DUH), said: “Producers of electronics must bear more responsibility for the environmental problems caused by their products. Currently, producers have only a small financial burden from treated e-waste because less than 50% of the equipment put on the market is collected. This must end now. Producers must be obliged to participate in networks for e-waste return for which collection and reuse targets must become legally binding. Producers offering short-lived and poorly repairable equipment should also bear higher costs. Online platforms should also be held accountable through full liability and due diligence since suppliers on these platforms often evade their legal obligations.”

Fynn Hauschke, Policy Officer, Circular Economy and Waste at the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), said: “More than 12 million tonnes of electronics were sold in the EU in 2021, but less than half of that amount was collected as electronic waste. Almost every EU Member State fails to reach e-waste collection targets. This causes considerable environmental impacts and lost opportunities for reuse and recycling. There is an urgent need for more consumer-friendly separate collection systems, consumer education, and new financial incentives for actors to achieve high collection rates.”

Edoardo Bodo, Environmental Policy Officer – RREUSE: “Current legislation on WEEE management in the EU is held back by a fundamental flaw: allowing producers to meet environmental obligations by indiscriminately recycling everything, often including items that are still in working order. Every time a functional piece of equipment is prematurely recycled instead of being repaired, we squander economic value and deplete valuable resources, while missing the opportunity to move towards a more circular economy. Hence the significance of establishing re-use targets in the next revision of the WEEE Directive, as a clear commitment to stop destroying our used electronics instead of giving them a new life.”

The method allows recovery of 100 per cent of the aluminium and 98 per cent of the lithium in electric car batteries. At the same time, the loss of valuable raw materials such as nickel, cobalt, and manganese is minimised. No expensive or harmful chemicals are required in the process because the researchers use oxalic acid – an organic acid that can be found in the plant kingdom.

“So far, no one has managed to find exactly the right conditions for separating this much lithium using oxalic acid, whilst also removing all the aluminium. Since all batteries contain aluminium, we need to be able to remove it without losing the other metals,” says Léa Rouquette, PhD student at the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Chalmers.

In Chalmers’ battery recycling lab, Rouquette and research leader Martina Petranikova show how the new method works. The lab has spent car battery cells and, in the fume cupboard, their pulverised contents. This takes the form of a finely ground black powder dissolved in a transparent liquid – oxalic acid. Rouquette produces both the powder and the liquid in something reminiscent of a kitchen mixer. Although it looks as easy as brewing coffee, the exact procedure is a unique and recently published scientific breakthrough. By fine-tuning temperature, concentration and time, the researchers have come up with a remarkable new recipe for using oxalic acid – an environmentally friendly ingredient that can be found in plants such as rhubarb and spinach.

“We need alternatives to inorganic chemicals. One of the biggest bottlenecks in today’s processes is removing residual materials like aluminium. This is an innovative method that can offer the recycling industry new alternatives and help solve problems that hinder development,” says Martina Petranikova, Associate Professor at the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Chalmers.

The aqueous-based recycling method is called hydrometallurgy. In traditional hydrometallurgy, all the metals in an EV battery cell are dissolved in an inorganic acid. Then, you remove the “impurities” such as aluminium and copper. Lastly, you can separately recover valuable metals such as cobalt, nickel, manganese, and lithium. Even though the amount of residual aluminium and copper is small, it requires several purification steps and each step in this process can cause lithium loss. With the new method, the researchers reverse the order and recover the lithium and aluminium first. Thus, they can reduce the waste of valuable metals needed to make new batteries.

The latter part of the process, in which the black mixture is filtered, is also reminiscent of brewing coffee. While aluminium and lithium end up in the liquid, the other metals are left in the “solids”. The next step in the process is to separate aluminium and lithium.

“Since the metals have very different properties, we don’t think it’ll be hard to separate them. Our method is a promising new route for battery recycling – a route that definitely warrants further exploration,” says Rouquette.

“As the method can be scaled up, we hope it can be used in industry in future years,” says Petranikova.

Petranikova’s research group has spent many years conducting cutting-edge research in the recycling of metals found in lithium-ion batteries. The group is involved in various collaborations with companies to develop electric car battery recycling and is a partner in major research and development projects, such as Volvo Cars’ and Northvolt’s Nybat project.

With industrial-scale equipment, Tozero is already producing lithium, and handling end-of-life batteries from OEMs. Tozero’s proprietary hydrometallurgical recycling technology enables sustainable recovery of all critical materials such as lithium, graphite, nickel, cobalt, and manganese. With the pilot plant, Tozero is already capable of meeting the EU’s 2031 mandatory minimum material recovery rate requirements of 80% for Lithium.

The new site will recycle the huge number of electric vehicle (EV) batteries that will reach their end of life in the years ahead and provide much-needed capacity to support the recycling of batteries in Europe.

The 12,000sqm facility, operated and furbished by EMR, features equipment enabling the discharge and dismantling of approximately 10,000 tonnes of electric vehicle battery packs per year. This will provide crucial recycling capacity as millions of drivers switch to electric vehicles. The layout and process flow of the facility was undertaken by Northvolt, integrating battery discharging and dismantling solutions designed and delivered by the company.

The discharge and dismantling of the battery packs is the first step in the battery recycling process. With more than 70 years of experience in the metal recycling industry, EMR will use its expertise to safeguard the high-quality copper and aluminium used to build modern EV battery frames. The process will ensure this material can, once again, be used to manufacture sustainable technologies, such as the next generation of electrical vehicles.

Following this, the remaining battery modules recovered from packs at the plant will be delivered to Northvolt’s facilities for further recycling. There, the modules will be crushed to enable the recovery of plastics, aluminium and copper. The remaining material, known as black mass, will be processed at Revolt Ett recycling plant in northern Sweden using Northvolt hydromet technology to recover battery-grade materials including more lithium, nickel, manganese, and cobalt.

These materials will be fed to Northvolt’s adjacent cathode active material production facilities, which in turn support on-site battery manufacturing. When fully built, Revolt Ett will enable the processing of 125,000 tonnes of black mass per year — sufficient to cover approximately half of Northvolt Ett’s raw material needs for cathode production.

Now in operation, the Hamburg facility is receiving battery packs and modules from the European electric vehicle market, secured by Northvolt. Alongside end-of-life battery packs of varying designs, the facility is also equipped to receive and process battery packs that are recalled from the market.

With these capabilities, the facility represents a key piece of infrastructure within Northvolt’s offer to its automotive customers, as well as to other stakeholders requiring battery recycling solutions.

The facility was officially opened on August 24 by the First Mayor of Hamburg, Dr Peter Tschentscher.

The plant will process 70 fridges per hour. Start-up is scheduled for 2024.

The scope of supply comprises the complete dismantling and sorting plant for simultaneous processing of CFC and pentane fridges from domestic or commercial markets in any ratio.

Enva Group is a provider of waste management, recycling, and resource recovery business with locations in Ireland and the United Kingdom. Its business focuses on the industrial, commercial, construction and public sectors, operating in the specialist hazardous and non-hazardous sectors.

While it is often associated with discarded gadgets and devices, a significant amount of electronic waste remains hidden in plain sight.

According to the United Nations, 8 kg of e-waste per person will be produced worldwide in 2023. This means 61.3 million tonnes of electronic waste discarded within a year – more than the weight of the Great Wall of China. Only 17.4 per cent of this waste, containing a mixture of harmful substances and precious materials, will be recorded as being properly collected, treated, and recycled globally. The remaining 50.6 million tonnes will be either placed in landfill, burned, or illegally traded and treated in a substandard way or simply hoarded in the households. Even in Europe, which leads the world in e-waste recycling, only 54% of e-waste is officially reported as collected and recycled and the lack of public awareness is preventing countries from developing circular economies for electronic equipment.

International E-waste Day is an annual awareness raising campaign initiated by the WEEE Forum and its members and takes place every year on the 14th of October. It aims to highlight the growing issue of electronic waste and promote responsible e-waste management. Any e-waste related awareness raising activities are welcome to join the campaign: from social media, TV, and radio campaigns to city or school e-waste collections or even artistic performances.

What is the invisible e-waste?

Invisible e-waste refers to electronic waste that goes unnoticed due to its nature or appearance, leading consumers to overlook its recyclable potential. As today’s lifestyle is more and more technology oriented, plenty of products present on the market have electrical or electronic components. This means that at the end of their lives, when they can no longer be reused or repaired, they should be part of the electronics’ recycling stream. Some examples of this type of object, largely present in households are: electric and electronic toys, e-cigarettes, power tools, smoke detectors, wearable health devices, smart home gadgets, e-bikes and e-scooters or simply cables.

Why is invisible e-waste a problem?

According to a study developed in 2022 by the United Nations Institute for Training & Resources (UNITAR) and WEEE Forum members in 6 countries (UK, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and The Netherlands), of the 74 e-products found in an average household 13 are being hoarded (9 of them unused but working and 4 broken). Small consumer electronics and accessories (such as headphones or remote controls – often not recognised as electronic items) rank top of the list of hoarded products. If these gadgets remain in the drawers and cupboards, the valuable resources they contain do not re-enter the manufacturing cycle.

When electronic devices and components are disposed of improperly because they are not recognised as e-waste, they often end up in landfills or incinerators. Electronics contain various hazardous substances such as lead, mercury, cadmium, and flame retardants, which can leach into soil and water sources, polluting ecosystems and posing risks to human health.

These devices also contain valuable resources, including precious metals like gold, silver and copper, as well as rare and strategic elements, called Critical Raw Materials, which are crucial for the green transition and production of new electronic devices. When e-waste is not recycled properly, these valuable materials go to waste.

“Last year 194 organisations from 72 countries across 6 different continents registered as participants, with many more entities marking the day with activities, news reports and online campaigns. This year we wish to make the event even bigger as we see the growing importance of the e-waste issue. Not only because of its increasing volumes. In Europe, with the war in Ukraine, there is a strong willingness of make the EU economy resilient when it comes to Critical Raw Materials. They can be retrieved from electronic waste but without all of us being conscious citizens and returning our electronic gadgets this will not become reality.” says Pascal Leroy, Director General of the WEEE Forum; he continues “In other parts of the world, we see the e-waste legislation emerging in more and more countries. Through initiatives like the Intentional E-Waste Day, we want to give them the tools to raise awareness and leapfrog some of the obstacles we have already faced.”

“The demand for battery minerals is increasing sharply with the ongoing transition to clean energy sources. For example, an electric car battery weighs approximately 200 kilos and is made of several metals. To cater for this demand, the world will need to produce more minerals and metals, but we also need to strive to close the loop and extend the life cycle of these valuable materials through efficient recycling. With Metso’s technology, the critical metals can be sustainably extracted from black mass and re-used in new battery production or in other applications. Recycling of black mass from batteries with Metso’s process can reduce up to 60% of embedded carbon compared to use of virgin materials,” explains Don Simola, Director, Battery Chemicals Technology at Metso.

Metso’s hydrometallurgical black mass recycling process enables the treatment of mechanically separated and shredded batteries for recovering battery raw materials like nickel, cobalt, and lithium, as well as manganese and copper. The process is based on Metso’s proprietary VSF X Solvent extraction technology and complemented with OKTOP reactors, Larox PF filters, Dual Media (DM) and LSF filters, and thickeners and scrubbers. Many of these technologies are part of Metso’s Planet Positive offering. The process flowsheet can be tailored according to feed materials and desired end products, with a possible phased approach for adding equipment also for the recovery of less valuable materials.

Taking place in Amsterdam on May 23, the event was chaired by Jan Visser of Mirec Benelux (part of Remondis/TSR).

The complexity of the e-waste “puzzle” in Europe was highlighted by Julie-Ann Adams, Chief Executive Officer of the European Electronics Recyclers Association (EERA). The review of the EU’s WEEE Directive was coinciding with efforts towards creating an EU Critical Raw Materials Act, the latter being significant for e-waste given that it constituted “a valuable source of critical raw materials”, she told delegates. In addition to these developments, the new Basel Convention codes applying to e-waste from January 1 2025 “are going to have a major impact” on global movements and required forward planning by all involved.

Taking each of these in turn, Ms Adams said EERA’s key response to the European Commission’s Call for Evidence in evaluation of the existing WEEE Directive was that “there is one Directive but 27 different versions implemented in Member States”. Her association was calling for harmonization of all requirements in the form of a regulation and mandatory hand-over of all WEEE, meaning producer responsibility for all electrical and electronic equipment.

Regarding critical raw materials, or CRMs, EERA has identified some of the main barriers to their recovery in Europe, including a lack of information on where the key CRMs can be found. According to Ms Adams, there was a need to “advocate the use of secondary raw materials” as these increased the security of a national supply.

The speaker concluded by explaining that a prior informed consent (PIC) notification procedure was set to apply to all electrical and electronic waste with effect from the start of 2025 as a result of a UN Basel Convention decision taken last year. Ms Adams contended that the competent authorities were not prepared for what would be a surge in PIC applications.

Fellow guest speaker Antonia Biggs, General Manager of the Chilean Association of Recycling Industries (ANIR), explained that her country’s extended producer responsibility law incorporated electrical and electronic devices as one of six priority products, with the volumes available nationally in 2023 put at 216,170 tonnes. The deadline for preparing a proposal establishing collection/recovery goals as well as other obligations had been extended until July this year, she said.

A new recruit to the BIR E-Scrap Committee, Yousef Al Sharif of Sharif Metals Group identified construction/infrastructure projects and substantial tech-related consumption among expatriate populations as key sources of e-waste in the Middle East where an estimated 1.74 million tonnes was generated in 2022. A 25% increase in this figure is anticipated by the year 2030.
Given the growing interest in e-waste recycling in the region as well as enhanced corporate social responsibility commitments, “we believe huge potential lies ahead”, the speaker concluded.

This is shown by new research from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. The method is also more environmentally friendly than previous methods of recycling and paves the way for more flexible and highly efficient solar cells.

Today, there are two mainstream types of solar cells. The most common is silicon-based and accounts for 90 percent of the market. The other type is called thin-film solar cells which in turn uses three main sub-technologies, one of which is known as CIGS (Copper Indium Gallium Selenide), and consists of a layer of different metals, including indium and silver. Thin-film solar cells are by far the most effective of today’s commercially available technologies. They can also be made bendable and adaptable, which means that they can be used in many areas. The problem is that the demand for indium and silver is high, and increased production is accompanied by a growing amount of production waste, which contains a mixture of valuable metals and hazardous substances. Being able to separate attractive metals from other substances, therefore, becomes extremely valuable, both economically and environmentally, as they can be reused in new products.

“It is crucial to remove any contamination and recycle, so that the material becomes as clean as possible again. Until now, high heat and a large amount of chemicals have been used to succeed, which is an expensive process that is also not environmentally friendly”, says Ioanna Teknetzi, PhD student at the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, who together with Burcak Ebin and Stellan Holgersson published the new results in the journal Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells.

Now their research indicates that a more environmentally friendly recycling process can have the same outcome.

“We took into account both purity and environmentally friendly recycling conditions and studied how to separate the metals in the thin-film solar cells in acidic solutions through a much ‘kinder’ way of using a method called leaching. We also have to use chemicals, but nowhere near as much as with previous leaching methods. To check the purity of the recovered indium and silver, we also measured the concentrations of possible impurities and saw that optimisation can reduce these”, says Ioanna Teknetzi.

The researchers showed that it is possible to recover 100 percent of the silver and about 85 percent of the indium. The process takes place at room temperature without adding heat.

“It takes one day, which is slightly longer than traditional methods, but with our method, it becomes more cost-effective and better for the environment. Our hopes are that our research can be used as a reference to optimise the recycling process and pave the way for using the method on a larger scale in the future”, says Burcak Ebin.

The method

1. The film from the solar cell is analysed regarding material, chemical composition, particle size and thickness. The solar cell is placed in a container with an acid solution at the desired temperature. Agitation is used to facilitate dissolution of metals in the acid solution. This process is called leaching.

2. Leaching effectiveness and chemical reactions are assessed by analysing samples taken at specific times during the leaching process. The different metals are leached at different times. This means that the process can be stopped before all the metals begin to dissolve, which in turn contributes to achieving higher purity.

3. When the leaching is complete, the desired metals are in the solution in the form of ions and can be easily purified to be reused in the manufacture of new solar cells.

Managing Director of Ireland’s leading e-waste and metals recycling facility, KMK Metals Recycling, Kurt was first elected President of EERA in 2019, having joined the organisation in 2008 and served on the board since 2013.

Kurt highlighted his passion for the role and what he feels EERA can achieve. “My focus since becoming President of EERA has been on the importance of achieving a level playing field for all European WEEE recyclers and producers. A harmonised, legally binding standard for the collection and treatment of WEEE throughout Europe is the goal we have set ourselves. By having a set of legally binding minimum quality treatment standards for the recycling of WEEE across the European Union, we would grow the capacities and technologies required for the recovery of WEEE derived resources.”

“We have made some progress with the standard being a legal requirement in Ireland, for instance and in some other countries like the Netherlands and France, but more member states need to see the importance of a standard and quality recycling of WEEE. In my second tenure as president of EERA I shall work closely with my board and members to follow the process of renewing the WEEE Directive across Europe in 2024 and hopefully producing a WEEE Regulation that will be implemented equally throughout all member states.”

“I would like to continue promoting the capabilities of EERA members to contribute to the circular economy and to be given the certainty to innovate and extend their capacities. Together, we can achieve better,” he said.

At the AGM, which was held in Amsterdam, five other members of the board were also re-elected with Esteban Marijuan-Requeta (Indumetal) as Vice President and Jan Visser (Mirec) as Treasurer. Other members are Marius Costache (GreenWEEE), Sabine Krattiger (Immark) and Axel Riemann (Noex). Tom Caris (Coolrec) had been elected last year and remains on the board.

Over the last decades, replacement has often been prioritised over repair whenever products become defective and insufficient incentives have been given to consumers to repair their goods when the legal guarantee expires. The proposal will make it easier and more cost-effective for consumers to repair instead of replace goods. Additionally, more demand will translate into a boost to the repair sector while incentivising producers and sellers to develop more sustainable business models.

Today’s proposal will ensure that more products are repaired within the legal guarantee, and that consumers have easier and cheaper options to repair products that are technically repairable (such as vacuum cleaners, or soon, tablets and smartphones) when the legal guarantee has expired or when the good is not functional anymore as a result of wear and tear.

The proposal introduces a new ‘right to repair’ for consumers, both within and beyond the legal guarantee.

Within the legal guarantee, sellers will be required to offer repair except when it is more expensive than replacement.

Beyond the legal guarantee, a new set of rights and tools will be available to consumers to make ‘repair’ an easy and accessible option:

• A right for consumers to claim repair to producers, for products that are technically repairable under EU law, like a washing machine or a TV. This will ensure that consumers always have someone to turn to when they opt to repair their products, as well as encourage producers to develop more sustainable business models.
• A producers’ obligation to inform consumers about the products that they are obliged to repair themselves.
• An online matchmaking repair platform to connect consumers with repairers and sellers of refurbished goods in their area. The platform will enable searches by location and quality standards, helping consumers find attractive offers, and boosting visibility for repairers.
• A European Repair Information Form which consumers will be able to request from any repairer, bringing transparency to repair conditions and price, and making it easier for consumers to compare repair offers.
• A European quality standard for repair services will be developed to help consumers identify repairers who commit to a higher quality. This ‘easy repair’ standard will be open to all repairers across the EU willing to commit to minimum quality standards, for example based on duration, or availability of products.

A £582,000 grant has been awarded to the university’s Advanced Design and Manufacturing Engineering Centre (ADMEC) as part of the European-wide REBELION project which looks to give used electric vehicle Lithium-ion batteries a ‘second life’ or recycle them in a more efficient way.

Research shows that with reconditioning, the majority of electric vehicle batteries would be able to last another ten years after their capacity has fallen below 75 per cent. But the majority of Lithium-ion batteries in general are sent to landfill or incinerated and many of the first generation electric vehicles will soon reach their end of life.

The project – which is supported by the European Horizon programme and incorporates 11 organisations from across Europe – will also establish how recycling electric vehicle batteries could create a major source of Lithium-ion on the continent.

The main aims of the project include developing:

• Technology to sort used batteries into those suitable for a ‘second life’ and those which should be recycled
• Automated methods to dismantle batteries so that they can be recycled more efficiently
• A safety protocol for the recycling and reusing process and designing safety box containers for safe battery transportation and storage
• A standardised labelling system to provide data on second life batteries
• An analysis of how well the proposed models of recycling and repurposing perform
• A roadmap to the market for individual and joint business models

The NTU team will develop the information communication technology (ICT) platform and infrastructure. The team will also develop methods in relation to traceability of batteries, digital battery passports, ecolabelling and the calculation of eco-cost and eco-savings.

The team will also contribute to repurposing second life batteries in lighting products.

Partners in the project include Universitat Politechnica de Valenica, Accurec-Recycling, Sig de Raee Y Pilas Sociedad Limitada, Ona Product SL, Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia, University of Birmingham, Fondazione Icons, Erion Energy, Erion Compliance Organization Scarl and Volkswagen Group Italia SPA.

Professor Daizhong Su, Head of ADMEC which sits in NTU’s School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment (ADBE) said: “With the increased volume of electric vehicle batteries coming towards their end of life, it’s imperative that there’s a quick and accurate way to predict a battery’s future life in order to maximise second-life applications.

“Recycling is the most environmentally-friendly way to deal with batteries after their second life and has the potential to turn them into a major economic resource in Europe, with a value of up to £23 billion per year, as the raw materials they contain can be used for further manufacturing.

“This is an exciting project which has the potential to make the electric vehicle industry even more sustainable and help prevent up to nine million tons of battery waste per year going to landfill by 2040. We look forward to working with our partners to help create sustainable solutions for many of the future challenges of the electric vehicle industry.”

The Circular Economy Resource Information System (CE-RISE) project will develop the platform to provide stakeholders, including consumers, with a better understanding of the green credentials of electronic products and how to preserve important raw materials through the reuse, repair and recycling of these items.

Renewable energy technologies (RET) and information and communication technologies (ICT) are playing a vital role in the transition to a digitalised and zero emission Europe. However, these technologies are manufactured using raw materials that the European Union classes as ‘critical’, meaning these materials are vital to the economy, but also that their supply is at risk because they come from conflict zones or are largely controlled by one or just a few countries.

Russia, for example, accounts for over 40% of the world’s palladium production. Changes in the geopolitical situation, such as the war in Ukraine, can quickly and adversely affect the supply chain for critical raw materials. The European Union wishes to increase its control over the supply of these, and one way of doing this is to focus on those already contained in products being used in Europe.

The project will comprise the following stages:

1. Defining a set of criteria to evaluate the extent to which products and embedded components can be reused, repaired, refurbished and/or recycled – the so called ‘RE criteria’;
2. Incorporating information on RE criteria and material composition of products into a Digital Product Passport (DPP) to enable traceability of materials in the supply chain;
3. Integrating DPP with information on the product environmental footprint (PEF), and socio-economic and environmental (SEE) impacts of RE processes;
4. Enabling confidential and anonymised information sharing among actors throughout value chains;
5. Providing open access software application to disseminate information on the assessment of RE criteria, PEF and SEE impacts of products to all stakeholders including consumers and policymakers.

The functionality of the CE-RISE information system and products will be evaluated by five case studies in which a Digital Product Passport will be developed for ICT products, printers, solar panels, batteries as well as heating systems.

Launched in January 2023, CE-RISE project, led by NILU, involves 28 partners from 11 countries. The project, funded in the framework of Horizon Europe (project number: 101092281), will conclude in December 2026.

“The electronics recycling industry is facing unprecedented change”, says Jean Cox-Kearns, TES Group, Chairman of the IERC 2023 Steering Committee.

The International Electronics Recycling Congress is the international platform for reviewing the challenges faced by the Electronics Recycling Industry worldwide. It brings together industry specialists, regulators, and recycling businesses and their partners in this annual event which traditionally kicks off the new year in Salzburg, its established venue.

IERC 2023 is the first and most important meeting of the year for the worldwide electronics industry. Participants will join over 400 industry delegates to learn about the latest technological developments and the profound changes the industry is going through. They will learn about the many new schemes and regulations that they need to be aware of concerning take-back, reuse, repair, remanufacturing, repurposing and recycling of electronic products. Industry representatives will share their progress on introducing the greener materials and products that their customers now require. All will connect and exchange with old and new business partners during the many networking opportunities IERC 2023 provides in a great atmosphere.

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