Axion takes next step in critical raw materials recovery project

United Kingdom – UK-based recycler Axion is embarking on the next phase of a major European research project into the recovery of critical raw materials (CRMs) from e-scrap.

As part of the project, Axion will be speaking and exhibiting at a one-day conference on June 15 entitled ‘Integrating the Supply Chain for the Recovery of Critical Raw Materials from WEEE’, organised by the Knowledge Transfer Network in Manchester.

The aim of the event is to assess the barriers to improved recovery and recycling of CRMs throughout the whole supply chain, from collection to advanced recovery techniques. For the first half of the project, Axion has worked with three partners to run trials covering the collection of unwanted data-bearing devices – such as PCs, tablets, laptops and smartphones – across the north of England in High Street and charity stores.

Axion will provide updates on the ongoing trials and report on the project’s next phase, which started in May and which is focusing on sorting, separation and recovery of CRMs from dismantled devices.

‘This exciting project seeks to improve understanding, not just of consumer behaviour in recycling and reusing these devices, but also how we can recover valuable materials from them in an economically viable and efficient way,’ comments Axion’s principal consultant Jane Gardner.

On the day of the event, delegates will have an opportunity to tour Axion’s large-scale processing facility, the Shredder Waste Advanced Processing Plant (SWAPP), and the company’s in-house laboratories at Trafford Park in Manchester where latest process technologies at the forefront of material recovery techniques will be used to extract the CRMs from components.