Horizon Europe, which is the EU's key funding programme for research and innovation, has launched a new project called CIRCUIT4EU to recover critical raw materials and strategic raw materials from printed circuit boards, permanent magnets and electronic components.

The project brings together 21 partners across nine countries to advance new recycling technologies and help secure a more circular supply of raw materials for the EU. 

The programme is due to run for thee-and-a-half years to November 2029 with a total budget allocation of €8.9-million. 

The EU depends heavily on imported critical raw materials to supply its electronics, renewable energy, electro-mobility and digital industries.

To remedy this, the EU Critical Raw Materials Act sets an ambitious benchmark: by 2030, 25% of the EU's yearly critical raw materials consumption should come from recycling. Yet vast quantities of these materials remain untapped, discarded every year inside waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) that could otherwise be recovered, reused, and recirculated.

CIRCUIT4EU will target nine of the EU's 34 Critical Raw Materials - including copper, cobalt, nickel, antimony, tantalum, boron, and rare earths -recovering them from printed circuit boards, permanent magnets, and electronic components.

Solutions will be piloted across four everyday product groups: laptops, Wi-Fi boxes, e-scooters, and dishwashers.

Over the course of the project, the consortium will advance ten technologies including robotic disassembly, desoldering, hydrometallurgical recycling, digital product passports, and AI-driven quality inspection up to Technology Readiness Level 7.

Beyond technology, CIRCUIT4EU aims to shift the market itself: from one driven by virgin material supply, to one where refurbishers and recyclers have real-time visibility of critical raw material flows and can order high-value components on demand to close the loop across Europe.

CIRCUIT4EU is coordinated by research institution ENSAM, or Arts et Métiers, in France, and the multidisciplinary consortium of 21 partners come from nine countries, namely France, the UK, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Slovenia, Nigeria and Colombia.

The consortium spans industry and technology leaders, research and academic institutions, producer responsibility organisations, standardisation bodies, and specialised small and medium-sized enterprises and innovators, with the WEEE Forum leading the project's communication, dissemination, and stakeholder engagement activities.

"Critical raw materials are sitting inside millions of laptops, routers, e-scooters and appliances that Europe already owns. CIRCUIT4EU exists to prove that recovering them at scale is not just technically possible, but it is the foundation of a genuinely circular electronics industry," says ENSAM ParisTech coordinator for CIRCUIT4EU Nicholas Perry.