Overview
- Germany’s innovation agency Sprin‑D selected eight teams from about 60 applicants for its Tech Metal Transformation Challenge, awarding each €1 million in the first year.
- Among the winners, a six-person Helmholtz-Institut Freiberg team advanced a three-stage e‑waste process that uses shredding, flotation and a patented Magsel magnetic separation to extract metals and rare earths.
- The Freiberg researchers say their method is highly selective and avoids toxic chemicals, but they now face proving industrial-scale performance and cutting costs.
- Traders report Asian buyers are actively purchasing European scrap, including waste containing rare earths, which is tightening local recycling feedstock availability.
- The squeeze is visible in aluminum too, with significant European scrap flows to India and China and prices reaching $3,000 per ton on January 2, while the EU still recovers under 1% of valuable materials from roughly five million tonnes of annual e‑waste.