Transitioning to a Circular Economy for Critical Raw Materials

In our effort to better understand our position in achieving a circular economy and moving away from bottom-heavy processes in the waste hierarchy, Oakdene Hollins has produced a review on three sectors of our work. In this article, we look at one of these: Critical Raw Materials.

Critical raw materials, CRMs are raw materials which are important for our economy both from an economical and strategic perspective. The first list of CRMS was developed in 2011 and included 14 resources established as a priority action for the EU as a part of the raw materials initiative of 2008. In 2014, Oakdene Hollins supported the revision of the CRM list to include an additional six materials. Since then, the list of CRMS has continued to develop alongside our changing relationships with products and systems. As of 2020, the list of CRMS includes 30 materials such as antimony, bismuth, cobalt, graphite, phosphorus and lithium, to name a few.

CRMs can be found within our household products such as electronics as well as wider systems to support transport and energy such as renewables and electric vehicles. In this way, CRMs are increasingly becoming integrated with the way in which we live and operate. With such reliance, the critical in CRM truly comes to light.

At Oakdene Hollins, we understand the critical nature of increasing circularity in CRM supply chains and life cycles. We have been supporting an increasing number of projects within battery, transport, WEEE and renewables sectors. But what trends do we see, and are these sectors moving towards a circular economy?

Waste electronics unlike other recyclables are not collected in the recycling bin- they are separated with their own collection system. The European Union has set a target of a 65% minimum collection rate (EU WEEE Directive) of WEEE however, only few countries even meet this minimum. There has therefore been a heavy focus to try and increase this recycling rate. In particular, there is a significant opportunity to understand how collection rates can be increased to have knock on impacts for increasing recycling capacity.

Last year, Oakdene Hollins was commissioned by Material Focus to develop an evidence base on operational, cost and environmental considerations for kerbside collections of small mixed Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (SMW) to help the sector evaluate the appropriateness of rolling out a kerbside collection service across the UK. This research is part of a programme of work supporting the upcoming review of the Extended Producer Responsibility regulations for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE). The environmental motivation for the work is to reduce the estimated 155,000 tonnes of WEEE, thought to be predominantly SMW, that households dispose of within their residual waste for the year 2019. This is equivalent to over 5kg per household annually and represents one of the major sources of WEEE lost from authorised recycling routes.

WEEE products are a bank of resources some of which are critical raw materials including cobalt, lithium and others. The demand for these materials is rising in line with needs in the electronics sector and others such as for electric vehicles and renewable energy yet, at the same time mined resources are proving problematic and scarce. Companies have seen increasing interest in understanding how to bring circularity to CRMs across the WEEE, renewables and battery space. As an expert in this field, Oakdene Hollins are well placed to support this research. Get in touch to find out more.

Turning to the circular economy for CRMs is not only an option for the environment, but also for resource security. If WEEE is only considered from a recycling economy perspective, the value in CRMs could be missed. Oakdene Hollins former employee Peter Lee explains how,

"recyclability is based on meeting recycling targets {as discussed above} and these are often, weight based - by meeting tonnes recycled. Taking WEEE as an example, the core, easier to recycle components such as steel, may therefore be prioritised to recycle to help meet the recycling target whilst, valuable CRMs are missed out. The circular economy refocuses this issue." Therefore, whilst recycling is important for WEEE, the focus on increasing recycling to meet targets must not take away from understanding the role of the circular economy.

Two areas which are being seen as increasingly important in relation to CRMs are the energy and transport sectors. Oakdene Hollins are active within the energy and transport space to energise the movement towards a circular economy and away from linear resource consumption. In a recent international study "Repair or Replace", prepared by Allianz Center for Technology, AZT, together with Allianz SE and partners Metsims Sustainability Consulting and Oakdene Hollins compared a repair with a spare parts replacement in vehicle repair based on an ID3 battery-electric vehicle model The project team opted for a battery-electric vehicle for the study to ensure that the results would remain relevant amidst the evolving landscape of the automotive market, particularly with the increasing shift towards electric vehicles. Through the study, it was proven through analyses that repairing a damaged vehicle part is a more environmentally-friendly choice compared to replacing it with spare parts. This holds true for all countries considered, even if the body shop conducting the repair is already operating sustainably.

This leads onto the increasing demand for CRMS in batteries. Batteries are increasing in demand globally for their use in electric vehicles, electronics and to complement renewables for energy storage applications. They are also a bank of resources including CRMs such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese and graphite. Our extensive network of stakeholders in the battery and automotive sector allows us to gather insights from industry professionals and communicate these to policymakers to create and inspire change in both business practices and legislation. We asked Consultant Bethany Greenman why implementing the circular economy to batteries is so important:

“As the battery industry is in its early stages, recycling infrastructure and technologies have not readily been invested into yet so, there is a huge opportunity in the battery sector to implement circular economy practices from the get-go and bypass the recycling economy. The battery sector is immensely dynamic; from changing technologies, infrastructure and landscape shocks such as the likes of the energy crisis, impacting batteries and their products. By applying circular economy practices, we not only safeguard resources but we also increase our resilience to change as it decouples economic growth from resource consumption while decreasing environmental deterioration. We must continue to explore what circular business models are best-practice and how we can implement these into battery systems.”

With the importance of CRMs to support the sustainable and technological energy and transport transitions ever growing, the retention of value is important to help meet demand. On March 16th 2023, the European Union unveiled its proposal for a Critical Raw Materials Act. The Commission’s proposal for a Critical Raw Materials Act is a comprehensive response to the challenges which we are seeing in relation to the need for value retention and sustainable sourcing. The act will ensure that the EU can rely on strong, resilient, and sustainable value chains for their CRMs.

Across Europe there is still a great need to improve collection and recycling technologies but alongside this there is a clear requirement to implement circular business models and practices to secure resources including CRMs. If you want to learn more about how Oakdene Hollins can help you to design and implement the circular economy within CRM containing products, get in touch.