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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - ProSUM (Prospecting Secondary raw materials in the Urban mine and Mining waste)

Teaser

Characterising the occurrence and distribution of secondary raw materials, in particular critical raw materials (CRM) in the urban mine is a necessary prerequisite to increase supply security through recovery. However, existing data has lain scattered amongst a variety of...

Summary

Characterising the occurrence and distribution of secondary raw materials, in particular critical raw materials (CRM) in the urban mine is a necessary prerequisite to increase supply security through recovery. However, existing data has lain scattered amongst a variety of institutions including government agencies, geological surveys, universities, non-governmental organisations and industry. In addition, where data relates to the composition of products and waste fractions, different sampling, sample preparation and chemical analysis approaches may have been used, which makes it challenging to aggregate and compare data. For available data there was also rarely any temporal and geographic scope, description of the assumptions used, estimate of data representativeness, or indication of data quality.
ProSUM has produced a comprehensive, standardised and harmonised inventory of CRM stocks and flows in electrical and electronic equipment (EEE), vehicles, batteries and mining wastes across Europe. The data has been made available via a newly constructed, user-friendly, open-access Urban Mine Platform (UMP, for products – www.urbanmineplatform.eu ) and expansion of the Minerals Knowledge Data Platform (mining wastes). Access to both platforms is provided through the ProSUM Portal ( www.prosumportal.eu ).
The data and intelligence available through the ProSUM Portal will help in increasing the amount of secondary raw materials recycled from waste flows of electrical and electronic equipment, vehicles and batteries and assist the EU in developing a circular economy. It will allow policymakers and other stakeholders to take measures to improve Europe’s position on raw material supply and make it less reliant on markets in third countries.

Work performed

Results
The ProSUM project developed the very first EU-wide and open-access Urban Mine Platform (UMP) located at www.urbanmineplatform.eu. This dedicated web portal is populated by a centralised database containing all readily available data on market inputs, stocks in use and hibernated, compositions and waste flows of EEE, vehicles and batteries for all EU 28 Member States plus Switzerland and Norway. The UMP’s user-friendly design features dedicated applications, allowing the user to select and produce charts and to download resulting data ‘on-demand’ in a quick manner. The knowledge base is complemented with an extensive library of more than 800 source documents and databases.
The data and intelligence gathered during the project shows the following results. Every year, over 10 million tonnes of WEEE, 14 million tonnes of ELV and over 2 million tonnes of batteries are estimated to reach their end of life. In addition, 650-700 million tonnes of waste from mining and quarrying (Eurostat, data for 2014) is generated annually.
The mining wastes data will be held in the Minerals Knowledge Data Platform (MKDP), which lies within the ownership and development work of the Minerals4EU Foundation. The not for profit Minerals4EU Foundation’s overall scope is to provide a one-stop-shop to official and verified data, information and knowledge on mineral resources, and to act as contact point through which stakeholders can easily and transparently access its products and expertise. Work on characterizing mining waste in Europe is far from complete. The ProSUM project has developed guidelines for future work, a common database, new code lists and suggestions of locations for further work and exploration.

Exploitation and Dissemination Potential
An Information Network (IN) was created to engage end users and stakeholders in the development of the platform and expansion of the knowledge base. The project addressed a wide range of end users, including the recycling industry, producers and producer compliance schemes, and policy makers. The IN will be maintained beyond the life of the project with an annual event
The aim is to maintain, update and expand www.urbanmineplatform.eu. Options are being sought to fund maintenance, reduce data gaps with more and newer information and to expand the UMP to other relevant waste streams. In 2018 specifically, the project consortium will investigate dedicated applications and services, dependent on the demand from industry, policy makers and academia.
After the end of the project, the IN is expected to remain the forum where professionals involved in prospecting the secondary raw materials in the urban mine meet and where both the future UMP managers and data providers meet customers. The current members of this exceptional network of professionals will be invited to monitor developments of the UMP and actively engage with the activities of the UMP through membership of a group on LinkedIn.
A detailed series of recommendations has been developed with focus on further improving the knowledge base for secondary raw materials. Some of these recommendations will form the starting point for new and ongoing Horizon 2020 projects such as ORAMA and PolyCE.

Final results

By collating all available published data together with specific unpublished data provided by partners in the IN, a single inventory of data on secondary raw materials in the urban mine exists for the first time. This goes beyond state of the art in that services which have been developed in the UMP allow end-users to interrogate the data and produce charts on their waste, product, component, material or element of interest e.g. printed circuit boards in Italy.
The centralised database includes data for products put on the market, in use or hibernated in-stocks within the Urban Mine, the waste generated at end of life, and the flows of waste generated. The data includes those elements and materials found to be of high abundance in these waste products.
A number of dynamic charts allow the user to access detailed data and market intelligence on:
1. The Urban Mine representing the number and type of products placed on the market, in-stock (in use and hibernated) and generated as waste.
2. The Compositions specified for key components, materials and elements, such as aluminium, copper, gold or neodymium, contained in batteries, EEE and vehicle products.
3. The Waste Flows, including reported collection amounts, estimates for small batteries and EEE products in unsorted municipal solid waste, certain complementary batteries and EEE recycling flows, exported used vehicles and unknown whereabouts of vehicles, batteries and electronics.

The potential impact of this project will only be achieved by the take up of the data and intelligence provided through the ProSUM Portal, the Urban Mine Platform (UMP) and the Information Network. Therefore the data, knowledge and intelligence presented aims to be accurate, reliable, robust and pertinent to the end-user. Specifically, the expected impacts of the project are intended to:
- Lead to the improved mapping of the availability of CRMs in the EU through coordination activities.
- Enlarge the CRM knowledge base through data collection.
- Provide a reliable and transparent source of information that will be better harmonised and validated.
- Provide a general “Mineral Resources” information base facilitating the exchange of information.
- Undertake communication activities for improved interdisciplinary and transnational cooperation in the European raw materials supply chain.

Website & more info

More info: http://www.prosumproject.eu/.