European Union Designated Four Strategic Dutch Projects
Accelerated permitting and funding now support Dutch recycling ventures to bolster regional raw material supply.
Updated on Oct. 11, 2026 in Materials Science
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The European Commission has officially granted strategic status to four Dutch materials recovery projects under the Critical Raw Materials Act. This designation grants these ventures access to accelerated permitting and European Union funding to scale their domestic output.
Why it matters
These projects are intended to reduce European dependence on high-risk import chains for essential industrial materials. Scaling domestic circular recovery is a central pillar of the Union's strategy to meet its ambitious 2030 recycling targets.
The projects aim to achieve significant annual capacities, including 50,000 tonnes per facility for Myne Circular Metals and 26,000 tonnes for Back2Battery. These outputs contribute toward the EU goal of recycling 25% of critical raw materials by 2030.
The players
Myne Circular Metals
A Dutch recycler utilizing chemical recovery processes to isolate aluminum and copper from metal scrap.
Back2Battery
A battery recycling venture focused on the chemical extraction of lithium, cobalt, and other cathode materials from spent battery cells.
Mitsubishi Materials
A global industrial firm managing secondary smelting operations to reclaim copper and tungsten from industrial waste.
CRITICAL.
A startup developing specialized metallurgical processes to recover valuable materials from discarded printed circuit boards.
European Commission
The executive branch of the European Union responsible for drafting legislation and managing the Critical Raw Materials Act.
The details
The projects utilize advanced metallurgical and chemical processes to extract secondary raw materials from complex waste streams. Myne Circular Metals focuses on aluminum and copper recovery from scrap, while Back2Battery employs processes to reclaim lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, and graphite from used battery packs. Mitsubishi Materials performs secondary copper and tungsten smelting, and CRITICAL. recovers materials from printed circuit boards.
Timeline
October 9, 2026: The European Commission recognized the four Dutch projects.
2029: The CRITICAL. facility begins processing 15,000 tonnes of circuit boards annually.
2030: The target year for the European Union to recycle 25% of critical raw materials.
The Tech Race
This move directly follows the European Union's mandate established under the Critical Raw Materials Act to secure supply chains through domestic recycling. The initiative competes with established international processing hubs by aggressively scaling capacity in the Netherlands.
The scaling of these facilities will primarily affect downstream manufacturers who rely on steady, locally sourced supplies of copper, lithium, and other critical elements. While this does not change consumer-facing workflows immediately, it shifts the supply chain for European industrial production.
The takeaway
The European Commission is moving to secure supply chain autonomy by shifting from raw material importation to high-capacity domestic recycling. Stakeholders should track the 2029 operational ramp-up of the CRITICAL. facility as a benchmark for the feasibility of large-scale e-waste recovery.
Further reading
Learn more about the latest innovations in industrial recovery at Materials Science.
Source note: This article includes information reported by IO+.
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