Future Availability of Secondary Raw Materials

ongoing

The Future Availability of Secondary Raw Materials (FutuRaM) project seeks to (1) develop knowledge on the availability and recoverability of secondary raw materials (SRMs) within the European Union (EU), with a special focus on critical raw materials (CRMs), to enable fact-based decision making for their exploitation in the EU and third countries, and (2) disseminate this information via a systematic and transparent Secondary Raw Materials Knowledge Base (SRM-KB). The FutuRaM project will establish a methodology, reporting structure, and guidance to improve the raw materials knowledge base up to 2050, and facilitate the exploitation of SRMs with a particular focus on CRMs. The project will integrate SRM and CRM data to model their current stocks and flows, and consider economic, technological, geopolitical, regulatory, social and environmental factors to further develop, demonstrate and align SRM recovery projects with the United Nations Framework Classification for Resources (UNFC). The project will address the following waste streams: Batteries; Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment; End-of-Life Vehicles; Mining waste; Slags and Ashes; and Construction and Demolition Waste. FutuRaM will further develop and test the UNFC methodology through 18 case studies across the six FutuRaM waste streams. FutuRaM research into the future availability of raw materials is relevant to the specific aspects of the work plan. It will contribute to a transition to climate-neutral, circular and digitised economy; develop an understanding of anthropogenic resources; develop the necessary criteria to establish a resource classification approach; combine new & existing data and present it in a UNFC format; develop a proposal for EU statistics for SRMs; and contribute to raising awareness of raw materials supply challenges in the EU and the possible solutions.