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Recovering Electronics Parts and Materials for Maximum Resource Efficiency

Project description

Efficient monitoring and recycling solution for PCB panels

Printed circuit Boards (PCBs) are found throughout current electronics and are key to their operation. Because of this, and due to the increasing number of bought and used electronic appliances, tools and goods, PCBs are becoming increasingly present in waste. However, efficiently recycling PCB panels is challenging because it requires detecting, assessing, sorting, and recovering their materials and components. The EU-funded RETURN project will introduce a novel solution that enables recovery of 99 % of metals from waste PCB panels, as well as their detection, assessment, and sorting, in cooperation with the dynamic digital marketplace and digital product passport systems. Furthermore, with the cooperation of e-waste recycling centres and facilities, the benefits of this technology could increase even further.

Objective

The RETURN project uses eco-friendly liquid salts and low-energy electrochemical processes to recover >99% of the metals contained in waste PCBs panels. It utilises digital recognition, assessment and sorting, working in parallel with Digital Product Passport systems and a Dynamic Digital Marketplace to return recovered or repaired components and materials to EU markets. The impact is maximised by commercially attractive circular or closed-loop recycling of e-waste with facilities located directly into existing recycling centres at low investment levels. Sustainability and techno-economic viability assessments are built into all stages, assisting decision making and contributing to commercially useful performance and sustainability data to support post-project exploitation.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

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Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

HORIZON-IA - HORIZON Innovation Actions

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) HORIZON-CL6-2024-CIRCBIO-02

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Coordinator

Argo Natural Resources Limited
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 2 470 528,00
Address
Lynton House 7-12 Tavistock Square
WC1H 9BQ London
United Kingdom

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SME

The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.

Yes
Region
London Inner London — West Camden and City of London
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 3 532 686,29

Participants (6)

Partners (2)

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