Recycle your e-waste – it’s critical! | International E-Waste Day 2025 to focus on Critical Raw Materials
As the demand for smartphones, electric vehicles, solar panels, and other technology continues to surge, so does the need for the materials that make them work. This year, International E-Waste Day – taking place on 14 October 2025 – will spotlight Critical Raw Materials (CRMs), the elements that are mined in only a handful of countries and that are crucial to foster the green and digital transition.
Why are Critical Raw Materials so critical?
Geopolitics are highlighting how important these materials are. And while many people have heard about CRMs by now, not all of them know that these elements can be recovered from unused or broken electronic products sleeping in our drawers and attics. This is why the 8th edition of the International E-Waste Day (#ewasteday) will focus on raising awareness about this fact.
In Europe, the recent CRM Act sets ambitious targets: by 2030, 10% of annual CRM consumption should be sourced domestically, 40% should be processed within the EU, and 25% should come from recycling. This last goal cannot be reached without higher volumes of e-waste being collected and more specialised technology being developed.
2050 Critical Raw Materials Outlook
For this edition of the International E-Waste Day we collaborated with FutuRaM project which develops a knowledge base on the availability and recoverability of secondary raw materials in Europe. For this occasion, the project issued the “2050 Critical Raw Materials Outlook” - its first public set of data showing the projections for electronic waste generation and the Critical Raw Materials it contains.
See below what we found out:
π’ 10.7 million tonnes of e-waste was generated in 2022; ~20 kg per person.
π’ 29 critical raw materials were present in e-waste; ~1.0 million tonnes embedded.
π’ 54% of WEEE was compliantly managed in 2022; 46% outside was compliant channels.
π’ 0.4 million tonnes of CRMS were recovered from compliant treatment in 2022, including Cu 162 kt, Al 207 kt, Si 12 kt, W 1 kt, Pd 2 t.
π’ 2050 projection ranges (reflecting the business as usual, recovery and circularity scenarios): 12.5–19 Mt WEEE, 1.2–1.9 Mt embedded CRMs, 0.9–1.5 Mt recovered CRMs.