The 12th and 13th March saw the largest materials innovation event of 2018 being held, with over 70 exhibitors showcasing their latest products, and 1,300 delegates attending across the two days.

The event showcased the richness of the UK materials research and investment opportunities, providing an ideal opportunity to absorb current trends and take a glimpse of future innovations, as well as building links within the materials supply chain to strengthen the UK materials offer to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and end users.

As part of the event, Dr Kalyan Sarma (National Contact Point – Nanotechnologies and Advanced Materials) and Dr. David Gardner (European Programmes Team at the KTN), facilitated an International Collaborations Workshop. A number of presentations were given on European Projects and key themes for Critical Materials, including presentations on CRM Recovery and the H2020 project SCRREEN.

As well as discussing European Projects, this workshop also had the following three objectives:

• To provide attendees with an introduction to the opportunities available within the Horizon 2020 programme for collaboration in the area of materials research. This will be supported by case studies of recent successful applications to the H2020 programme from three UK organisations
• To highlight selected activities taking place in the area of critical raw materials and their importance to business continuity. Two case studies will be introduced as well as the importance of materials research that will lead to a successful low carbon energy economy.
• A short interactive session to provide some feedback on priorities for future collaborative research and a move to an integrated supply chain through the life cycle of products.

The presentation was well attended and a questionnaire to evaluate the impact of material supply on business continuity was circulated to delegates. Answers will shortly be collated, however if you would like to offer your own feedback or insights there is still time to do so, by visiting www.menti.com  and using code 71 42 84. Deadline for responses is 6th April 2018. 

Information about CRM Recovery and SCRREEN was available to delegates at the show via our exhibition stand, situated on Stand 98, with many new subscribers and interactions for both projects. Thank you to all those who stopped by to talk to us, hopefully we’ll see you at another event.

The Critical Raw Material Closed Loop Recovery project has announced that the five trial partners of the project, RecyclingBoerse, Asekol, Axion Consulting, Re-Tek, and Ecodom have now completed the collection stage of the trials, with significant amounts of devices such as smart phones, laptops and personnel computers collected.

The EU LIFE funded Critical Raw Material Closed Loop Recovery project is investing in trials exploring novel ways of boosting the collection and recovery of critical raw materials (CRMs) from household waste electrical and electronic products (WEEE). Each year millions of tonnes of WEEE is generated in the EU, but only 30% is reported as properly collected and recycled. The Critical Raw Materials Closed Loop Recovery Project aims to increase the recovery of target CRMs by 5% by 2020 and by 20% by 2030.

Trials started in July 2016 and the remaining recovery trials will be completed in 2018, with policy and infrastructure recommendations to be developed shortly afterwards.

Held across the UK, Italy, Germany and the Czech Republic, the collection mechanisms included retailer take-back schemes; reuse containers at household waste recycling centres, business collections, university drop-off hubs, school collections and other collection events.

The collection trials saw the trial partners working alongside some leading industry and academic names such as; John Lewis, British Heart Foundation, Enscape, Dixons Carphone, Enviropol, Fraunhofer IWKS and Institut für Materialprüfung Glörfeld GmbH, amongst others.

Materials collected are now being tested to recover Critical Raw Materials, with a full evaluation of the collected materials being undertaken to demonstrate reuse potential and amount that is recovered from different methods used.

With a focus on the recovery of cobalt, antimony, graphite, tantalum, rare earth elements, gold, silver, platinum group metals and copper, the trials will study the potential for range of techniques from manual and chemical dismantling to electrochemical and hydrometallurgical processes, to increase recovery of Critical Raw Materials.

The collection and recovery trials were the first stage in the €2.1m, three-and-a-half-year project, which is supported by the LIFE financial instrument of the European Union, Innovate UK, the Welsh Government and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), and led by WRAP. The outputs from the trials will inform policy recommendation throughout the EU.

In this month’s issue:

• Update on CRM Collection Trials – Re-Tek, ECODOM, AXION, RECYCLINGBOERSE, ASEKOL
• Scrapping the combustion engine: the metals critical to the success of electric vehicles
• Meet the Partners: Wuppertal Institute
• Upcoming Events

To view the newsletter, visit: http://r1.dmtrk.net/3RL1-8U4F-32/sv.aspx

• WRAP
• DHL UK
• Waste Services North Lincolnshire Council
• British Heart Foundation
• Tetronics
• REPIC
• Ecodom
• Enscape
• TUHH
• Axion
• European Commission
• Asekol

Held on Thursday 15th June in Manchester, UK, the full agenda for the conference has now been announced.

This conference aims to assess the barriers to improved recovery and recycling of CRMs throughout the whole supply chain from the logistics of collection to advanced recovery techniques.

Speakers from;

WRAP
DHL UK
Waste Services North Lincolnshire Council
British Heart Foundation
Tetronics
REPIC
Ecodom
Enscape
TUHH
Axion
European Commission
Asekol

Presentations and panel discussions will provide a key opportunity to discuss the importance of integrating the whole life cycle of reuse and recovery to achieve long term sustainable solutions to the issue of recovery of critical materials from end-of-life products.

Register Now

The Conference will be held on Thursday 15th June in Manchester, UK, and will include presentations and panel discussions from industry and academic experts.  Delegates will also have the opportunity to visit Axion’s recycling facilities on the 15th June.

Topics to be discussed;

• Importance of an Integrated Materials Recovery Sector
• The availability of CRMs in Secondary Raw Materials
• How can manufacturers support the recovery of CRMs in product design
• Optimisation of the logistics of collection
• Extending the life of products to minimise need for new virgin CRMs
• Advances in the recovery of CRMs

Who should attend?

This conference aims to assess the barriers to improved recovery and recycling of CRMs throughout the whole supply chain from the logistics of collection to advanced recovery techniques.  The conference will be of interest to those responsible for the commissioning and delivery of recycling and waste collections, sustainability managers and experts in multiple industry sectors, and researchers offering advanced recovery options for end of life products.  The presentations and panel discussions will provide a key opportunity to discuss the importance of integrating the whole life cycle of reuse and recovery to achieve long term sustainable solutions to the issue of recovery of critical materials from end-of-life products.

The CRM Recovery project team are organising the event.  It is EU LIFE funded and attendance to the conference is free.

The event will also have space for a limited number of free exhibition stands.  If you are interested in exhibiting, please contact criticalrawmaterialrecovery@wrap.org.uk

Register for the event >>

On the 19th of September Keith James (WRAP) presented the Critical Raw Materials project to the ISWA World Congress in Serbia. The presentation encouraged conversations around Intelligent disassembly of PCBs.

The event attracted over 1300 delegates made up of representatives of scientific and expert community, global corporations from this area and political and state officials with over 50 individuals attending the CRM project session.

On the 7th of September Malcolm Waddell from WRAP shared the aims of the Critical Raw Materials Closed Loop Recovery (CRM) project which aims to explore the opportunities for harvesting critical raw materials and precious metals including gold, silver and platinum group metals, from everyday unwanted electronic products. The presentation started some interesting questions and debate around the data sources and our reference for the calculation of tonnages.

Just fewer than 400 delegates attended the event from 35 different countries, representing a range of sectors.

A high level European WEEE flows model is being created to help us understand the potential to increase the collection of waste electrical and electronic equipment and the recovery of critical raw materials (CRMs) from these products.

The model is in the early stages of development and is based on currently available country flow data. When updated, it will map out how (W)EEE moves through Europe, highlighting high concentrations of target CRM rich products.

There is a need for us to understand where in Europe products are entering the waste stream and in what quantities to help us use the trials data and outputs effectively.   The model will allow for recommendations to be made on the most effective collection mechanisms to maximise the opportunity and for the development of an infrastructure plan that effectively locates recovery capacity where it is most viable.

The development of the model will be managed by WRAP and delivered by Valpak Consulting with outputs due Autumn 2016.