Application Endoflife metals recovery rate Metals recycled Buildingsconstruction 95 Aluminium copper nick el lead zinc steel alloying elements A utomotive 90 of metals from cars recycled properly in Europe Aluminium copper zinc gold emobility battery metals nick el cobalt lithium Engineering 95 Nick el cobalt other metals contained in super alloys L ead batteries 99 of batteries recycled properly in Europe L ead P ack aging 60 Aluminium Electronics waste 35 Copper gold silver palladium T able 4 Endoflife recovery rates by endsectors and metals recycled Source Eurometaux R ecycling rates for some consumer applications such as electronics waste are lower Only 35 of Europe s electronics waste is collected and recycled through the proper channels resulting in a loss of valuable materials 73 and comple x products such as electronics waste require more energy to recycle compared with simple products The recovery rates for metals commonly alloyed with steel chromium titanium manganese cobalt etc are mostly above 50 For precious metals there are diferent recovery rates gold 20 silver 55 platinum 11 palladium 9 iridium 14 rhodium 9 ruthenium 11 74 A further 7 metals have recovery rates between 1 and 25 molybdenum magnesium iridium tungsten cadmium antimony mercury 75 The remaining 35 metals have endoflife recovery rates of less than 1 These are all minor metals used in very small volumes where recycling is technically or economically unfeasible Not only is the metals recovery rate high in Europe the use of recovered metals in base metals production is high Around 50 of EU total base metals production is done via sec ondary production using recycled metals In the rest of the world this is only around 18 R ecycled metals contribute a noteworthy percentage of Europe s total base metals supply for e xample 43 or 1 7 Mt of Europe s copper use in intermediate and fnal products is already met from recycled material 76 For zinc and nick el the fgures stand at 30 105 Mt and 33 0 7 Mt respectively 7778 These fgures are higher than the reported secondary production because the latter often does not include the scrap recovered in primary and secondary production processes 73Huisman et al 2015 74Deloitte 2015 75R ecycling rates for Mercury and Cadmium are low because of imbalances between ofer and demand for applications Much of these collected metals are stabilized and safely stored because of little demand 76European Copper Institute 77For Zinc the number can be closer to 40 when taking into account the recycling of zinc waste streams in the zinc compound and the brass industry 78 International Zinc Association 2019 Nick el Institute 34 Nonferrous metals in the EU a frontrunner in the circular economy Metals are inherently permanent materials which do not lose their properties after recy cling and can be recycled endlessly S trategically metals recycling is an essential route for Europe to develop a secure domestic supply of the nonferrous metals alongside e xisting levels of primary production required for its climate transition possibly without relying on more imports of primary metals from regions with higher carbon footprints 70 Embracing the circular economy can also enhance production revenue growth through reducing costs and increasing employment in society through new business models 71 In general metals recycling processes require less energy on a lifecycle basis than e xtraction and primary production operations This is particularly relevant for recycling of pure metals waste streams although recycling of some metals from comple x waste fractions could incur higher energy requirement due to low metal concentrations andor small volumes 34 1 The EU has high metals recovery and recycling rates for metals The EU is a world leader when it comes to recovering metals from preconsumer scrap from industrial production processes and postconsumer scrap Europe s metals recycling industry has a position of real global leadership with stateoftheart recycling facilities able to recover over 20 metals from scrap endoflife products and industrial byproducts Sections of the industry are closely integrated with companies working together to e xtract maximal value from diferent types of waste Several hundreds of frms recycle nonferrous metals in Europe R ecycling rates from preconsumer scrap are very high due to the relatively large volumes link ed to a business to business collection infrastructure This scrap can be easily recycled because of its high purity Preconsumer scrap also allows for recycling of several special metals that cannot be recovered from their enduse applications due to their use in very low quantities yet 72 The end of life metals recovery rates are e xtremely high in the construction and buildings with over 95 of metals recovered Over 90 of metals in endoflife vehicles is recovered in Europe when using the appropriate facilities For lead batteries this is over 99 For pack aging it is over 60 A number of k ey lowcarbon technologies including wind turbines and electric vehicle batteries too have been designed to heed high endoflife recycling rates Given their long lifetime in use high endoflife volumes are not yet available 70Material Economics 2018 recognises that e xisting primary production and recycling must work togetherThe gradual decarbonisation of the aluminium supply in the EU can go hand in hand with eforts to improve the circularity of European aluminium use By both decarbonising supply and reducing the need for imported primary metal to serve demand the EU can act on two complementary fronts to bring aluminium in line with lowcarbon objectives pg 112 71 W yns Khandek ar R obson 2018 72For e xample Germanium is mainly recycled from the production processes of industries lik e fbre optics solar cells LEDs and infrared optics Slags or fnal slags as byproducts from the production of nonferrous metals ferroalloys and silicon are largely used in road construction applications according to European or international standards MET ALS IN A CLIMA TE NEUTRAL EUROPE A 2050 BL UEPRINT 32