Your old smartphone, long forgotten in a drawer, may turn out to be part of an economic strategy. Lithium, cobalt and rare earth metals — these are the elements found in electronics and so needed for batteries, microchips and renewable energy. Today, the EU imports about 90% of the materials it needs.
In 2024, an EU law came into force requiring the share of recycled resources to rise to 25% by 2030, up from just 1% today. That target is encouraging the industry: 2,700 companies are already working in urban mining — extracting valuable metals from e-waste.
Construction accounts for almost 40% of EU waste, and more and more materials are now being returned to use. Where damaged buildings once became little more than road aggregate, new technologies now make it possible to recover concrete, steel, aluminum and glass with quality restored.
A circular economy law is due to take effect in 2026 and will expand support for such projects. In the long term, waste is set to stop being a problem and become part of Europe’s resource strategy. Every old phone or brick could become an element of a new economy in which value lies not only in what is produced, but also in what has already served its time.
