By 2050 Europe’s Waste Could Supply Over Half of Critical Material Demand

The platform and final report brings together harmonized data on seven major waste streams:

• Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE)
• Waste batteries
• End-of-life vehicles
• Construction and demolition waste from buildings
• Slags and ashes from industrial processes
• Mining waste
• Dismantled wind turbines

It confirms that 5.2 million tonnes of CRMs embedded in products were placed on the market in 2022, compared to 2.1 million tonnes embedded in waste and 1.4 million tonnes recovered, highlighting both the scale of material flows and the gap between consumption and recovery.  

By 2050, CRMs in products placed on the market could rise to between 8.4 and 12.2 million tonnes annually as waste generation reaches 5.2 to 6.4 million tonnes, and recovery could reach 4.7 to 5.7 million tonnes underscoring the growing strategic importance of recycling systems.

Many strategically important materials, including lithium, cobalt, and rare earth elements, are largely lost during collection and/or waste processing today. 

Five CRMs – including platinum, and rhodium – have recovery rates of over 80% thanks largely to well-established collection and processing routes. 

Eight others, including aluminium, copper, palladium, and nickel fall in the 40–80% range, where collection and treatment infrastructure is in place but losses remain significant. 

And for 22 CRMs, recovery yields less than one tonne per year across the entire EU27+4 (2022 data) , with most rare earth elements in this category. 

According to the report, with the right legislative and industrial choices made now, within 24 years some 17 CRMs, including cobalt, lithium, and rare earth metals such as dysprosium and neodymium, could achieve recovery rates above 80%.