Europe is seeking additional supplies of lithium, cobalt, rare earths, copper, graphite and other strategic materials from products already circulating through its economy. Batteries, electronics, vehicles, wind turbines and industrial machinery contain materials that can be recovered after use, but significant quantities are currently lost before reaching recycling facilities.
A 2026 assessment by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre found that 46% of critical and strategic raw materials contained in small electrical and electronic equipment are lost during collection.
End-of-life devices can remain in households, enter general waste streams, be exported without adequate tracking or reach recycling facilities that recover bulk metals without extracting smaller quantities of strategically important materials.
The issue is particularly significant for permanent magnets. Rare-earth magnets are used in electric motors, wind turbines, industrial equipment, electronics and defence systems, but they are frequently not removed before products are shredded. The magnets can then become mixed with steel and other bulk-metal waste, making recovery difficult or uneconomic.
The JRC estimated that annual losses of permanent magnets into bulk-metal waste streams could increase from approximately 1,900 tonnes in 2022 to around 45,000 tonnes by 2030, as more electric vehicles and renewable-energy equipment reach the end of their operating lives.
Collection and sorting constrain material recovery
The availability of recycling feedstock is as important to recovery operations as the metallurgical technology used at the end of the process. Batteries must be safely removed, magnets identified and separated, product composition established and waste streams consolidated in sufficient volumes to supply industrial processing facilities.
This has placed greater attention on collection, identification, dismantling and sorting alongside hydrometallurgical and pyrometallurgical recovery processes.
The JRC has identified batteries, permanent magnets, vehicles, cables and electrical equipment as priority waste streams for improved recovery of critical materials.
The focus is also shifting from overall recycling rates toward the recovery of individual materials. Steel or aluminium can be recovered from a product while its rare earths, lithium or graphite are lost, meaning a headline recycling rate does not necessarily indicate that strategic materials have been recovered.
Projects develop new secondary material sources
EU-backed projects are pursuing technologies intended to recover critical materials from waste streams that have traditionally been treated primarily as disposal or environmental-management challenges.
The Circular Materials project, supported by EIT RawMaterials, is developing a supercritical-water-precipitation process designed to recover critical and strategic materials from industrial wastewater.
Industrial wastewater can contain dissolved metals at potentially recoverable concentrations. Technologies capable of extracting those materials could combine wastewater treatment with secondary raw-material production.
Another initiative, n9ve, is developing a hydrometallurgical process for recovering rare earths from end-of-life permanent magnets. EIT RawMaterials has reported prototype material with purity above 99%, while full pilot capacity is targeted for the end of 2026. The company aims to support production of approximately 500 tonnes of magnets per year from 2027. Commercial performance will depend on feedstock availability, recovery rates, operating costs and customer qualification.
Battery recycling and alternative graphite production
The EIT-supported ReLiFe project is focused on lithium-iron-phosphate batteries. It completed a 500-tonne-per-year pilot facility in Xanthi, Greece, with approximately €4 million in project co-funding. Lithium-iron-phosphate batteries contain less nickel and cobalt than some other battery chemistries, affecting the economics of conventional recycling. Their increasing adoption creates demand for recovery processes capable of extracting lithium, graphite and other materials from lower-value battery waste.
Swedish company Nordic Bio-Graphite is pursuing a different source of battery material. It received a €0.6 million investment from EIT RawMaterials to develop synthetic graphite using forestry residues and biochar. The approach is based on converting biological residues into a strategic battery material rather than recovering graphite from conventional waste. Its environmental performance depends on energy consumption, carbon accounting, feedstock sourcing and performance relative to imported natural or synthetic graphite.
Digital systems support material identification
Information about waste composition is another constraint on European material recovery. Recyclers can receive products without dependable information on their composition, age or previous treatment, complicating dismantling and processing decisions. Digital product passports and traceability systems could help recycling facilities identify valuable components and determine suitable treatment routes. The recently completed Horizon Europe projects BATRAW and MaDiTraCe addressed different elements of this supply-chain information challenge.
BATRAW worked on battery dismantling, sorting, recycling and material passports. MaDiTraCe developed systems combining digital records with physical material fingerprints to support certification and responsible-sourcing claims. Such systems could help manufacturers verify recycled content and distinguish recovered European materials from conventionally mined supplies. Their use could also support markets for products associated with lower environmental impacts. Traceability systems require independent verification, however, because digital records alone cannot prevent materials from being mixed, substituted or incorrectly labelled.
EU recycling target requires broader infrastructure
The Critical Raw Materials Act sets an objective for the EU to develop recycling capacity equivalent to at least 25% of its annual consumption of strategic raw materials by 2030. Achieving that level of capacity requires more than building recycling plants. Collection systems must direct end-of-life products toward appropriate treatment facilities, while product-design requirements can make strategic components easier to remove. Recyclers also require commercial arrangements capable of securing sufficient feedstock.
Waste management across borders is another consideration. Exporting complex waste to jurisdictions with weaker controls could improve European collection statistics without establishing a secure or responsible supply chain. The recovery chain therefore extends across product design, collection, dismantling, sorting, processing and manufacturing, linking secondary raw-material supply directly with Europe’s critical-minerals strategy.
