CEWASTE Final Report: Voluntary Certification Scheme for Waste Treatment: A Contribution to Future Critical Raw Materials Recycling
Introduction
Critical raw materials (CRMs) are essential to many technologies and industrial applications, yet Europe has historically depended heavily on external sources for a number of these materials. Recycling offers an opportunity to strengthen secondary supply, but at the time of the CEWASTE project, recycling rates for many CRMs remained very low and their recovery was often technically challenging or economically unattractive.
The CEWASTE project examined how better collection, treatment, traceability and certification could improve the recovery of valuable and critical raw materials from waste. The project developed and tested a voluntary certification scheme for facilities involved in the collection, transport and treatment of waste streams containing significant quantities of CRMs, particularly WEEE and waste batteries.
Rather than creating an entirely new system, CEWASTE built on existing legislation, standards, certification schemes and established treatment practices. It developed additional technical, sustainability, management and traceability requirements where gaps existed and created an assurance and verification system for assessing compliance.
Published in 2021, the final report brings together the project's principal findings, the development and testing of the certification scheme, and recommendations for creating the regulatory and economic conditions needed to increase CRM recovery from secondary sources.
Why critical raw material recovery matters
The CEWASTE report identified recycling as an important way to reduce Europe's dependence on primary and imported critical raw materials. CRMs are used across modern technologies, renewable energy, mobility and other strategic applications, but Europe has limited domestic access to many of these materials and remains dependent on external supply.
Waste electrical and electronic equipment, batteries and end-of-life vehicles contain potentially valuable secondary sources of CRMs. However, the report found that many of these materials were not being recovered. CRMs are often present in small quantities, while the technologies needed to extract them may not be commercially available or economically viable. High investment requirements and low or volatile raw material prices can further weaken the business case for recycling.
CEWASTE therefore focused on waste products and components containing concentrations of CRMs that could potentially justify recovery. The project considered not only whether recovery was technically possible, but also whether materials could be effectively separated during treatment, supplied in suitable quantities to downstream processors and recycled under economically viable conditions.
The report concluded that increasing CRM recovery would require more than recycling technology alone. Collection, treatment, traceability, appropriate standards and economic conditions all influence whether critical materials contained in waste ultimately return to the economy as secondary raw materials.
Which waste streams and materials CEWASTE examined
The CEWASTE project assessed electrical and electronic equipment, batteries and end-of-life vehicles to identify waste products and components with sufficient concentrations of critical raw materials to make their recovery technically feasible and potentially economically viable.
From this assessment, the project focused on four groups of key CRM-containing components:
Printed circuit boards from IT equipment, hard disk drives and optical disk drives, containing valuable and critical raw materials including gold, silver, palladium, bismuth and antimony.
Waste batteries from WEEE and end-of-life vehicles, particularly lithium-ion batteries containing cobalt and lead-acid batteries containing antimony.
Neodymium iron boron (NdFeB) magnets from equipment such as hard disk drives, household appliances and electric vehicle motors, containing rare earth elements including neodymium, dysprosium, praseodymium and terbium.
Fluorescent powders from fluorescent lamps and cathode ray tubes, containing rare earth elements including europium, terbium, yttrium, cerium and lanthanum.
The project did not select these streams simply because they contained CRMs. To qualify as Key CRM Equipment, the materials had to be present at concentrations that could be isolated during treatment, an appropriate recycling route had to be technically feasible, and operators needed to be capable of supplying material in a form suitable for downstream processing. The project also considered whether recovery was already commercially viable or could become viable with appropriate financial support.
This approach allowed CEWASTE to concentrate on waste streams where changes in collection, sorting and treatment practices could realistically increase the recovery of critical raw materials rather than attempting to recover every CRM present in every discarded product.
The recycling potential of critical raw materials
The CEWASTE project found that CRM-containing waste could make a meaningful contribution to Europe's secondary raw material supply if the materials were effectively collected and recycled. However, the potential varied considerably between materials and waste streams.
For some materials, established industrial recycling routes already existed. The report identified the recovery of palladium and other precious metals from printed circuit boards, antimony from lead-acid batteries and cobalt from lithium-ion and nickel-metal-hydride batteries as commercially established practices under the conditions prevailing at the time.
For other CRMs, technical feasibility did not necessarily translate into commercial recycling. Rare earth elements had previously been recovered from fluorescent lamp powders, for example, but the report noted that industrial operations had stopped following a decline in rare earth prices. Recovery of rare earth elements from NdFeB magnets was also technically possible, with several recycling technologies under development, but further investment and sufficient volumes of suitable material were needed to support industrial-scale operations.
The report therefore highlighted an important distinction between having critical raw materials in the waste stream and actually recovering them. Successful CRM recycling depends on suitable collection and treatment systems, effective separation and concentration of CRM-rich components, viable downstream recycling technologies and sufficient quantities of material reaching those processes.
CEWASTE concluded that technology alone would not unlock this potential. Economic conditions, financing and access to sufficient feedstock would also determine whether technically recoverable CRMs could be recycled at commercial scale.
Gaps in current recycling practices and standards
The CEWASTE project reviewed more than 60 existing standards, regulations, certification schemes and other normative requirements relevant to waste treatment and responsible sourcing. Although many included provisions on secondary raw materials, sustainability or traceability, the report found relatively few requirements that directly addressed the recovery of critical raw materials from WEEE, batteries and end-of-life vehicles.
The gaps extended across the treatment chain. For final processing, for example, existing requirements covered the recovery of copper and precious metals, including palladium, from WEEE fractions, but the report identified no equivalent final processing and refining standards for the other CRMs examined by CEWASTE.
The project also identified practical and economic barriers to CRM recovery. These included low WEEE collection rates, insufficient separation of CRM-rich equipment during collection, difficulties accessing CRM-containing components and a lack of detailed information about their composition. Weight-based collection and recycling targets could also favour the recovery of large material volumes rather than small quantities of strategically important materials.
Economics presented another significant obstacle. The report found that recovery of many CRMs was not commercially attractive under the prevailing market conditions, even where technically feasible. It therefore identified stable and reliable financing mechanisms as particularly important for materials such as rare earth elements from NdFeB magnets and fluorescent powders, as well as some battery materials.
CEWASTE used this gap analysis to develop additional technical, management, sustainability and traceability requirements, building on existing frameworks including the EN 50625 series rather than creating a completely
The CEWASTE certification scheme
The CEWASTE project developed a voluntary certification scheme for operators involved in the collection, transport and treatment of waste containing valuable and critical raw materials. Rather than replacing existing waste treatment systems, the scheme built on established legislation, standards and certification frameworks, including the EN 50625 series for WEEE collection, logistics and treatment.
The scheme established requirements covering management, sustainability, traceability and technical performance. These applied across the value chain, including collection, handling, sorting, storage, treatment and downstream processing of WEEE and waste batteries.
A central objective was to improve the recovery of CRM-rich equipment and components before valuable materials became diluted or lost during subsequent treatment. The requirements therefore emphasised appropriate collection, sorting and removal, alongside monitoring and continuous improvement of CRM recovery.
CEWASTE also incorporated assurance and verification into the scheme. Assurance established the rules and procedures operators would follow, while verification provided the framework for auditing facilities against the CEWASTE requirements. The system also included training for auditors and operators and defined the certification process from application and audit through to the conformity assessment and certification decision.
The project designed the requirements to be clear, measurable and auditable, allowing operators to demonstrate compliance and, for specified waste streams, trace CRM-rich products, components and fractions through the treatment chain.
In this way, CEWASTE sought to connect technical recycling performance with traceability and independent verification, providing a framework for demonstrating that CRM-containing waste was managed in accordance with defined requirements throughout the recycling value chain.
Technical, sustainability and traceability requirements
The CEWASTE scheme combined technical requirements for CRM recovery with management, sustainability and traceability requirements. These applied to operators and facilities involved in collection, handling, sorting, storage, treatment and downstream processing of WEEE and waste batteries.
The technical requirements focused on reducing losses of critical and valuable materials during treatment. CEWASTE identified effective collection, sorting and removal of CRM-rich equipment, components and fractions as important steps before further treatment. The scheme also recognised technological and economic limitations, acknowledging that recovering every CRM was not technically or economically feasible.
The scheme incorporated management requirements to support implementation and continuous improvement. Operators were expected to monitor their performance and use management systems to support the technical requirements and improve CRM recovery over time.
Traceability provided a means of demonstrating that specified waste products, components and fractions had followed treatment routes complying with CEWASTE requirements. The report made these traceability provisions mandatory for waste lead-acid batteries and printed circuit boards.
Together, the requirements aimed to ensure that CRM recovery was considered throughout the treatment chain rather than only at the final recycling stage. CEWASTE designed them to be clear, measurable and auditable, enabling facilities to demonstrate compliance through the project's assurance and verification system.
Testing the scheme through pilot audits
CEWASTE tested the certification scheme through 20 pilot audits conducted between March and November 2020. The audits assessed both the practical application of the normative requirements and the readiness of operators to meet the management and technical requirements for CRM recycling.
The project selected operators across different stages of the value chain, covering collection, logistics, treatment and final processing. Participating facilities varied in size and geographical location, allowing the consortium to test whether the scheme could work across different types of operations. Many of the participating operators were members of EERA and the WEEE Forum.
Auditors included experts from within and outside the CEWASTE consortium who had previous experience auditing facilities against established standards. They received specific training on the CEWASTE requirements and the EN 50625 series before undertaking the assessments.
The pilot process formed part of a broader development and consultation programme. Successive versions of the requirements were reviewed through stakeholder consultations, pilot testing and feedback before the final version was submitted to the European Commission in April 2021. Findings from the audits were used to revise and strengthen the certification scheme.
This practical testing allowed CEWASTE to assess whether its requirements were understandable, auditable and applicable to different operators across the recycling value chain, rather than relying solely on a theoretical certification framework.
Recommendations for increasing CRM recovery
The CEWASTE report concluded that improving critical raw material recovery would require action across the value chain, supported by regulatory, economic and technical measures. It emphasised that responsibility could not rest with recyclers alone and called for public authorities, producers, PROs and other actors to contribute to creating the conditions for greater CRM recovery.
The report recommended:
Introducing legal requirements for the recovery of specific CRMs, moving beyond generic weight-based recycling targets.
Creating market, financial and fiscal incentives to make CRM recovery economically viable and stimulate demand for secondary CRMs in new products.
Promoting platforms that connect supply and demand for recycled components, materials and critical raw materials.
Improving collection and awareness, including greater recognition of the importance of recovering CRMs from e-waste.
Consolidating CRM-rich waste streams, with PROs encouraged to cluster suitable fractions in sufficient quantities to make recycling more attractive.
Improving access to information on CRM-rich components to facilitate their identification, treatment and monitoring throughout the value chain.
Strengthening enforcement, particularly for transboundary shipments of CRM-rich fractions and compliance with technical standards.
Integrating the CEWASTE requirements into the EN 50625 series and making the resulting requirements legally binding.
Increasing targeted investment in research and development to advance recycling technologies for CRMs that remained difficult or uneconomic to recover.
Taken together, the recommendations reflected a central finding of the project: technical recyclability alone would not ensure CRM recovery. Appropriate regulation, sufficient feedstock, functioning markets, financing, information and enforcement would also be needed to turn CRM-containing waste into a reliable source of secondary raw materials.
Key conclusions
The CEWASTE project demonstrated that critical raw materials contained in waste represent an important potential source of secondary materials, but their presence in a waste stream does not guarantee their recovery. Collection, sorting, treatment technology, traceability, economics and access to suitable downstream processes all influence whether CRMs can be returned to the economy.
The project found significant gaps in existing requirements for CRM recovery. Although established standards covered many aspects of WEEE treatment, relatively few provisions specifically addressed the identification, separation and recovery of CRM-rich components. CEWASTE therefore developed additional technical, management, sustainability and traceability requirements, building on existing frameworks such as the EN 50625 series.
Through its certification and verification scheme and 20 pilot audits, the project tested how these requirements could be applied across collection, logistics, treatment and final processing. The pilot programme also provided practical feedback that informed the final CEWASTE requirements.
The report ultimately concluded that certification and technical improvements alone would not be sufficient. It called for specific CRM recovery requirements, stronger economic incentives, improved collection and information, better enforcement, greater investment in recycling technologies and stronger markets for secondary CRMs. It also recommended integrating the CEWASTE requirements into the EN 50625 series and making the resulting requirements legally binding.
The central message of the 2021 report was clear: increasing Europe's recovery of critical raw materials requires a coordinated approach across the entire value chain, with responsibility shared among policymakers, producers, PROs, collectors, recyclers and downstream processors.
About the CEWASTE project
CEWASTE was a European research and innovation project funded under the EU's Horizon 2020 programme. The project brought together partners from across the waste management, recycling, standardisation and research sectors to examine how the recovery of critical raw materials from waste could be improved.
Running from 2018 to 2021, the project developed and tested a voluntary certification scheme for the collection, transport and treatment of waste containing significant quantities of critical and valuable raw materials. Its work focused particularly on WEEE and waste batteries, while also examining CRM-containing components from end-of-life vehicles.
The project built on existing European standards and treatment practices, including the EN 50625 series, and developed additional requirements where gaps affecting CRM recovery were identified. The resulting framework covered technical performance, management, sustainability, traceability, assurance and verification.
EERA participated as a CEWASTE project partner, contributing expertise from Europe's professional WEEE recycling industry. The final report was produced by the CEWASTE consortium and published in 2021.
Read the full report
Read the full CEWASTE Final Report: Voluntary Certification Scheme for Waste Treatment: A Contribution to Future Critical Raw Materials Recycling for detailed findings on CRM recovery, the development and testing of the certification scheme, pilot audits and recommendations for policymakers and the recycling value chain.
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