Co-sponsored by EDIH, Oceanopolis
Short description: AI, Data and Robotics for sustainable recovery of critical raw materials from urban waste.
Date: 04.11.2024 | 14.00 - 15.30
Location: Pluto room

Description:

We need critical raw materials (CRMs) for fundamental products as well as for the green and digital shift. In Europe, we throw away about one ton of electrical waste per 100 inhabitants each year in average. Could the increased recovery and recycling from waste be the solution to secure availability of CRMs?


Most of the waste in Europe is shredded or incinerated for either landfill or for low portion recovery at special plants like in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Greece, Germany and others. Waste can contain valuable CRMs that can rather be recovered and fed into remanufacturing. However, current sorting solutions are not effective for sparse materials in waste given that manual sorting is unrealistic due to unavailable manpower and costs. The actual world crises are causing severe challenges for Europe’s future sustainable development and welfare. Resilience and technological sovereignty have become renewed priorities for Europe, due to the exposed vulnerabilities in critical value chains, including CRMs and innovative materials. 

The European Commission (EC) has set-up goals for the CRM Act 2030 that will put pressure on businesses but also open new market opportunities. Waste is becoming increasingly unmanageable by humans in the future given the current trends of recovery, recycling, remanufacturing, and repurposing. From the generated waste, less than 2% of valuable non-ferrous CRMs is recycled from both WEEE and end-of-life vehicles (ELVs). Therefore, we need a revolution in new machines and processes that tackle this complex and global challenge, which is hitting most if not all waste plants. Copper, nickel and cobalt are examples of CRMs found in urban waste. Furthermore magnets (especially neodymium-based magnets) waste is becoming highly relevant for recovery due to growing geopolitical conflicts and the need to improve supply security and reduce the environmental footprint of rare earth value chains in Europe. China has started to restrict export of CRMs with gallium and germanium since July 2023 and antimony in September 2024. Sustainable and viable solutions for CRMs supply must be established, including the mining and recovery from waste. 


We need safe processes, technologies that reliably work and framework conditions that contribute to a productive environment. We need to do the job without using a lot of manual work. But how do we make it happen?
AI, Data and Robotics systems are part of the answer. The robots must be equipped with radical new foundational AI models that make it possible to operate in different physical environments. The models must reinforce the robots' learning, interaction and operational capabilities. We need also supportive processes and financial incentives to enable boosting and development of businesses in a sustainable manner. 


At this event, we talk about how urban mining (i.e. recovery of CRMs from waste at urban and rural areas) can contribute to solving the material crisis. We will also elaborate on the status-quo of waste management and how AI, Data and Robotics could enable sustainable recovery and recycling of CRMs from waste.

 Agenda:

  1. Brief introduction of the participants and topics (Maryline Fiaschi)
  2. Introduction of critical materials crisis and urging new challenges (Nabil Belbachir)
  3. Roundtable discussions: 
    •    What are the urging efforts needed to get out of the crisis? 
    •    How to technologies, processes and policies should be implemented?
    •    How can we coordinate our efforts for an effective manner to manage the current crisis.
    •    Summary and recommendations for the next steps. 
     

Organiser: 

  • Maryline Fiaschi, CEO, Science Business.
  • Nabil Belbachir, Research Director NORCE, Director eu-robotics, CTO DIH Oceanopolis.
  • Rebecca Schedl Warpup, Project manager at DLR
     

Speakers: 

  • Anna Domenech Abella, Head of Innovation at Celsa Group
  • Bjørn Arild Thon, CEO at Renas
  • Øivind Østbø, Head of Development at Remiks Miljøpark
  • Rudolph Triebel, Department manager at DLR
  • Nabil Belbachir, Research Director NORCE, Director eu-robotics.
     

Moderator: Maryline Fiaschi - Science Business