30 Sept 2025
New Partnership to transform e-waste into strategic & circular EU supply of critical raw materials
Teesside, UK — 30 September 2025 — DEScycle, the UK-based clean-tech company pioneering smelter-replacement recycling, has secured a €5m grant under the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme. The funding will support RETURN, a €7.5m European research and innovation project co-funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI).
Tackling Europe’s fastest-growing waste stream
E-waste is now the world’s fastest-growing waste stream, worth over $100bn annually. Yet the majority of its valuable metals are either landfilled, exported, or lost in inefficient recovery processes. RETURN will directly address this challenge by combining breakthrough chemistry with advanced digital technologies to create a circular, resilient supply of critical raw materials within Europe.
Key innovations of RETURN include:
Eco-friendly chemical recovery process to replace traditional smelting
Automated sorting systems to increase efficiency and purity
Digital Product Passports (DPPs) for full lifecycle traceability
Dynamic Digital Marketplace (DDM) to enable transparent trading of recovered materials
Quote from leadership
“The RETURN project represents a significant step towards reshoring Europe’s critical raw material supply chains and accelerating the transition to a circular economy,” said Dr. Leo Howden, CEO of DEScycle. “By transforming e-waste from an environmental liability into a valuable circular resource, we are creating a secure, low-carbon supply of critical metals for Europe’s green and digital transitions.”
Next stepsOver the next 36 months, RETURN will move from laboratory validation to pre-commercial demonstration, proving the effectiveness and scalability of DEScycle’s model. Alongside technical development, the consortium will engage with policymakers, industry, and the public to ensure impact at scale.
Consortium partners
The RETURN consortium brings together leading organisations across Europe:
DEScycle (United Kingdom), Minespider (Germany), GAP Group (United Kingdom), Cycleco (France), MoreThanDigital (Switzerland), Iconiq Innovation Ltd (United Kingdom), PX Group (Switzerland), OSAI Automation Systems (Italy), Jean Monnet University (France).
About DEScycle
DEScycle is a UK-based deep-tech company developing proprietary processes based on Deep Eutectic Solvent chemistry to replace smelting. With >99% metal recovery at room temperature, DEScycle enables capital-light, scalable recycling of critical metals from e-waste. Backed by Cisco, Mitsubishi, and leading UK recyclers, DEScycle is building its first demonstration facility in Teesside, UK.
See the press wire: New Partnership to transform e-waste into strategic & circular EU supply of critical raw materials - EIN Presswire