Europe’s discarded electronics now hold around 1 million tonnes of critical raw materials (CRMs) each year, according to a major new report marking International E-Waste Day.
The analysis warns that with demand for CRMs soaring amid global supply risks, e-waste could become Europe’s most valuable untapped resource.
Produced by the EU-funded FutuRaM consortium, The Critical Raw Materials Outlook for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment reveals that e-waste in the EU, UK, Switzerland, Iceland and Norway contains vital materials such as copper, aluminium, palladium and rare Earths – essential for renewable energy, digital infrastructure and modern defence.
In 2022, the region generated 10.7 million tonnes of e-waste, with roughly half treated compliantly.
From this, 400,000 tonnes of CRMs were recovered, including 162,000 tonnes of copper and 207,000 tonnes of aluminium.
However, almost 100,000 tonnes of valuable materials were still lost through current recycling systems.
By 2050, annual e-waste could reach 19 million tonnes, with up to 1.9 million tonnes of embedded CRMs. Under a circular economy model, Europe could recover over 1 million tonnes each year while keeping waste volumes stable.
“Europe depends on third countries for more than 90% of its critical raw materials, yet we only recycle some of them as little as 1%,” said Jessika Roswall, EU Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy. “Recycling is both an environmental imperative and a geopolitical strategy.”
Pascal Leroy, Director General of the WEEE Forum, added: “By mining our e-waste instead of the planet, Europeans have a powerful opportunity to build our own circular supply chains.”
The report calls for improved product design, better collection systems and investment in advanced recycling technologies to recover high-value materials from products like EV chargers, servers and photovoltaic panels.
Europe should mine its own e-waste appeared first on Energy Live News.