REcycling CRitical Elements in Advanced Technologies for the Environment (RECREATE).
Technology critical metals (TCMs), such as lithium, cobalt, rare earths and platinum group metals (PGMs), are those which are economically important but at risk of short supply. The UK Government's Net Zero Strategy: "Build Back Greener" (2021) highlights the supply of these critical materials as a key challenge for the UK's energy transition. They are used in electrical generators (such as offshore wind-turbines), electrical motors and in batteries (both essential for electrical vehicles) and in the hydrogen economy.
The Government's (2022) Critical Minerals Strategy, Resilience for the Future, emphasises the global supply-chain pressures arising from the growth in demand for such materials and that Government plans "will only happen in the UK if there is a resilient supply of these minerals". The UK published its first critical mineral list in 2022 with 18 "technology critical minerals and metals" (British Geological Survey, 2022).
RECREATE aims to develop a circular economy for TCMs, keeping the materials or components in the highest value form with the lowest environmental footprint.