Thursday 15 October 2015

€2.1m project to boost recovery of raw materials

The UK is participating in a project worth €2.1 million (£1.5m) to map out effective recovery of raw materials from electrical products.

The Critical Raw Material Closed (CRM) Loop Recovery aims to explore commercial opportunities for harvesting raw materials and precious metals including gold, silver and platinum group metals from unwanted electronics.

The three-year project is expected to increase the recovery of a range of CRMs by 5% from products such as consumer electronics, ICT equipment and small household appliances.

According to WRAP, around 40% of electrical products go to landfill when they are disposed.

The UK Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) the European Recycling Platform (ERP UK) and the Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN) will partner with Wuppertal Institute and European Advanced Recycling Network (EARN) to develop the project.

Germany, Turkey and Italy are also taking part in the project funded by the EU.