Europe is developing a new secondary-metals industry by turning electronic waste into a source of copper, precious metals and critical raw materials. New recycling projects are targeting printed circuit boards, which contain valuable metals but require specialised processing to recover them efficiently.
Dutch Urban Mining Project Targets 15,000 Tonnes Annually
The European Commission awarded Strategic Project status in October to a proposed Urban Mining Factory for printed circuit boards in the Netherlands, developed by CRITICAL.
The planned facility is designed to process 15,000 tonnes of low-grade waste printed circuit boards annually. Its targeted material streams include copper, aluminium, nickel, silver, gold, palladium, platinum and tin.
Printed circuit boards contain complex combinations of metals that can serve as valuable secondary resources. Commercial recovery depends on separating individual materials efficiently while controlling emissions, processing residues and metal losses. CRITICAL. identifies copper as a core output around which other critical materials can be consolidated before being sent to specialised refining facilities.
Specialist Processing Strengthens the Recycling Chain
The project reflects an industrial model in which recycling facilities concentrate valuable materials rather than refining every metal themselves. Pre-processing plants can upgrade electronic waste before transferring it to smelters or hydrometallurgical facilities equipped to recover specific elements.
This approach creates a supply chain linking waste collection, material separation, processing and refining. Japan’s Mitsubishi Materials is pursuing a complementary strategy through its proposed 3ECYCLE facility in the Netherlands. The project will use electronic scrap as its primary feedstock and recover copper and other valuable metals using technologies developed through the company’s non-ferrous smelting operations.
Together, the projects could strengthen the Netherlands’ position in electronic waste processing by supporting specialised operations that collect, sort, upgrade and refine different secondary material streams.
Copper and Precious Metals Support Industrial Supply Security
Recovered copper can return to electrical applications, while nickel and other metals can re-enter industrial supply chains. Gold, silver, palladium and platinum offer additional economic value because of their relatively high unit values, helping support the recovery of other materials within the same feedstock.
Expanding domestic processing capacity could also reduce the amount of valuable material lost to overseas processing. Collecting electronic waste without the infrastructure to recover its embedded metals leaves countries dependent on external refiners and limits the industrial value retained locally.
EU Critical Raw Materials Strategy Drives Investment
Europe’s dependence on raw materials extends beyond access to mined ores. Control over refining technologies, metallurgical infrastructure and recyclable feedstock is also essential to securing supplies.
The EU Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) seeks to strengthen these capabilities, with Strategic Project recognition supporting project development, permitting and access to relevant financing instruments.
Nevertheless, commercial success will depend on securing reliable volumes of electronic scrap, maintaining competitive energy costs, deploying efficient recovery technologies and establishing dependable markets for recovered metals. Europe’s emerging urban-mining industry is therefore moving beyond waste management towards a strategic industrial model designed to recover copper and other critical materials from products already circulating in the economy.
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