Recycling Critical Materials from E-Waste for a Circular Economy

Recycling critical materials in e-waste can minimize the environmental impact at the end of a product's life but also reduce the demand for raw materials.

3ds.com, Mar. 24, 2025 – 

As stated in the global E-waste Monitor 2024, annual global e-waste (or electronic waste) generation nearly doubled between 2010 and 2022, rising from 34 million tons to 62 million tons. Half of this total consists of metals and critical materials, while the remaining portion is made up of plastics (27%) and materials like glass and composites (23%). Far from decreasing, the amount of e-waste is projected to reach 82 million tons by 2030.

This is a major concern due to the devastating impact e-waste can have on the environment and the human health, particularly from the release of toxic pollutants that contaminate air, soil, and water. In countries like Ghana, where e-waste recovery is often done informally, local populations are exposed to hazardous chemaicals while dismantling electronic waste. The lack of protective measures and poor working conditions puts workers, often from impoverished communities, at severe health risk. Despite attempts to formalize recycling efforts, the industry remains largely unregulated, leaving vulnerable populations to bear the environmental and social consequences.

Recovering and recycling e-waste is a key solution. The good news: not only it can minimize the environmental impact at the end of a product's life but also from the outset by reducing the demand for raw materials. Thus, the International Energy Agency estimates that "recycled quantities of copper and cobalt could reduce 2040 primary supply requirements by 30%, and 15% for lithium and nickel".

Recovering electronics to recycle critical materials

In that context, prioritizing recovery and recycling of critical materials contained in the large amount of e-waste is key. Because, while critical materials are essential for advancing clean energy technologies – including renewable energy systems and electric vehicles – as well as driving digital transformation, the risks of supply chain disruptions are high. This vulnerability is due to geographic concentration, limited substitutes, and the finite nature of these resources.

Following circular economy principles which foster waste reduction, recycling and reuse, elements such as cobalt, nickel, copper and Rare Earth Elements (REEs) could be recovered from e-waste, re-processed and put back into the next generation of high-performance electronics, lithium-ion batteries, semiconductors, circuit boards, and other electronic components.

The role of regulations in curbing the environmental and social impacts of e-waste

Regulations and frameworks are essential in shaping a sound management of e-waste and the recovery of critical materials. For example, when there is a lack of formal recycling infrastructure, e-waste can be handled through informal channels, exposing workers to hazardous substances like lead and mercury without proper safety measures.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted in 2015, offer a broad framework for addressing these challenges. More specifically, SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) emphasizes sustainable resource management and waste reduction, while SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure) promotes innovation in e-waste recycling technologies and resource recovery systems.

A Global Perspective on regulations

Globally, various legislations are regulating e-waste. The Basel Convention, an international treaty, aims to control the transboundary movement of hazardous waste, including e-waste, and ensure environmentally sound disposal. In the United States, the National Strategy for Electronics Stewardship focuses on improving e-waste recycling infrastructure and responsible material recovery. Meanwhile, China's Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policies mandate electronics manufacturers to take responsibility for end-of-life product management. Additionally, specific legislation in the European Union, such as the Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE Directive), mandates the separate collection, treatment, and recycling of e-waste, as well as setting collection and recycling targets. Finally, the Critical Raw Materials Act aims to reduce the EU's dependence on imported critical materials by creating a resilient and sustainable supply chain, with a recycling target of 25% by 2030.

While mandates like EPR establish responsibility, financial mechanisms such as tax reductions for recycled material usage, subsidies for advanced recycling technologies, and funding for research in sustainable material alternatives can accelerate adoption. Encouraging private sector investment in e-waste recycling infrastructure and material recovery technologies is also essential to bridging the gap between regulation and implementation.

Despite these initiatives, significant gaps remain: globally, only 81 countries have enacted e-waste legislation or initiatives, and fewer still–46 countries–have established formal collection targets, while just 36 countries have set recycling targets. This underscores the urgent need for stronger enforcement and better alignment of national and regional efforts with global sustainability goals.

Making recycling a reality through circular economy principles

Circularity promotes the recovery, recycling, and reuse of e-waste by encouraging electronic manufacturers to adopt closed-loop systems. These systems can be supported by using mono-materials and modular designs, both of which simplify disassembly and enhance recycling efficiency, as well as integrating recycled materials into new devices.

Innovation in recycling technology

However, challenges remain. First of all, recovery and recycling of e-waste needs to be more efficient and economically viable. Indeed, many products combine materials that are difficult to separate, and the low recovery value of some critical materials reduces the economic incentive for recycling. To address these issues, innovations in recycling technologies have emerged, improving the efficiency, precision and profitability of material recovery from e-waste.

Key processes in material recovery include dismantling, the foundational step to separate critical material-rich components from devices and isolate recyclable parts. Chemical processing plays a crucial role in extracting materials from e-waste by isolating valuable elements from non-recyclable or hazardous components. Additionally, biotechnology offers a sustainable solution for critical materials recovery through bioleaching, a process that uses microorganisms to extract materials, further enhancing recovery methods. Beyond processes, investing in efficient collection and sorting infrastructure can increase the volume and quality of recycled e-waste.

Improving the recovery and recycling of critical materials in e-waste can in turn create new business opportunities by fostering the growth of specialized recycling companies and enabling the production of secondary raw materials. Companies can capitalize on sustainable supply chains, offering eco-friendly electronics made from recycled components, while startups can explore advanced sorting, refining, and remanufacturing techniques. Additionally, the circular economy model can drive collaborations between manufacturers, recyclers, and policymakers, leading to new markets for refurbished electronics, closed-loop production systems, and sustainable product design services.

Leveraging virtual twins to improve recycling processes

Thanks to the Virtual Twin technology, electronics manufacturers can improve recycling processes by modeling complex material value chains, optimizing recycling pathways and implementing data-driven decisions. Virtual Twin Experiences enable seamless collaboration across stakeholders, improve resource utilization, and enhance sustainability in operations.

Handling e-waste at its root: Reducing Reliance on Critical Materials Through Eco-Design

By rethinking product design, electronics manufacturers can address critical materials dependency and reduce e-waste right from the start. One effective way to do just that is through eco-design, an approach that integrates sustainability principles into product development to minimize waste and environmental impact throughout the product lifecycle. Dassault Systèmes' lifecycle assessment (LCA) solutions enable manufacturers to implement eco-design principles.

By implementing lifecycle assessment, manufacturers can address the e-waste issue at its root by:

• Design for Durability: Extending the useful life of products through robust components and modular designs reduces the frequency of replacements, thereby curbing waste generation. Longer-lasting electronics mean fewer discarded devices and lower demand for new materials or devices
• Design for Reparability: Simplifying products, standardizing components and providing repair manuals enable consumers and technicians to fix and upgrade products with ease. Additionally, modular designs significantly reduce critical raw material consumption over time by enabling the replacement of individual parts instead of entire devices.
• Design for Disassembly: Ensuring that electronic equipment can be easily disassembled at the end of their lifecycle facilitates waste processing, efficient recovery and recycling of valuable materials. Thoughtful design choices make material separation simpler and more effective
• Integrating recycled materials: Incorporating recycled critical materials into new electronic devices helps lower environmental impact, reduce costs, and support circularity. By investing in recycling technologies, manufacturers can recover critical materials from e-waste with higher purity and efficiency. Additionally, establishing industry standards for the use of recycled materials ensures consistent quality and reliability

Material Innovation: Exploring Sustainable Alternatives

Beyond redesigning products, material innovation is another way we can reduce critical materials dependency from the start. Research into bio-based materials and synthetic substitutes for rare earth elements can provide viable alternatives for electronic applications. For example, graphene is being explored as a potential replacement for certain conductive materials, while new alloys seek to reduce reliance on scarce elements without compromising performance.

Innovations in material processing, such as additive manufacturing, allow for precise material usage, minimizing waste and critical materials consumption.

Dassault Systèmes empowers manufacturers to significantly reduce electronic waste and develop more sustainable electronics through its collaborative 3DEXPERIENCE platform and advanced simulation capabilities. By fostering collaboration across the value chain, Dassault Systèmes connects manufacturers with recyclers, suppliers, and other stakeholders to build efficient circular and low-emissions supply chains that enhance material recovery rates and minimize hazardous waste.

Dassault Systèmes enables virtual prototyping, allowing manufacturers to create and test products digitally before physical production. This reduces waste, optimizes material usage, and enhances product sustainability. The Virtual Twin technology further supports e-waste reduction by:

• Streamlining Manufacturing: Identifying inefficiencies in production processes to minimize material waste
• Optimizing Recycling Processes: Simulating material recovery scenarios to improve efficiency and reduce costs
• Enhancing Repair and Maintenance: Providing data-driven insights for designing products with better repairability and serviceability

Dassault Systèmes' commitment to circularity is also evident in its leadership role in the EECONE (European ECOsystem for greeN Electronics) project. By spearheading the creation of a comprehensive knowledge hub, Dassault Systèmes ensures that all stakeholders have access to essential resources such as eco-design tools, metrics, databases, and guidelines. This fosters collaboration and accelerates the adoption of sustainable practices across the electronics industry.

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