The consumer electronics industry is one of the largest in the world and with the highest growth, generating millions of tons of waste per year, with waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), by far the most growing worldwide. The main reasons for this growing increase are the constant technological innovation and the increasingly frequent replacement of electrical and electronic devices by more advanced ones with new features, which added to the culture of use and throwing and a consumerism not entirely responsible, causes that year after year the generation of this type of waste is increasing. A large part of them are not properly managed by the different actors involved, so there is a first environmental problem in this issue; but there is also an economic dimension to the problem, given the high value and scarcity of many of the materials with which these equipment are manufactured, especially in the case of those classified as Critical Raw Materials (CRM) by the EU. CRMs have been established as raw materials of great importance to the EU industry and economy and with high risk associated with their supply and availability in the market. With the intention of solving these two problems, the management of WEEE and the lack of availability in the supply of essential raw materials, the BIOMAT RECOVER project is proposed, in which the research and development of a strategy of selective biorecovery of raw materials present in WEEEs will be carried out for application in the synthesis of pigments.To this end, a consortium of three companies and a research body with complementary technological capacity has been established, so that through close collaboration, they can successfully achieve the objectives set; in this sense, ESCAP will contribute its experience in the field of environmental waste collection and management services, Biochemise, as a specialist in the design and development of processes based on biocatalysis, CETIM, with extensive experience in the area of waste recovery and sustainable development and AL-FARBEN, one of the largest companies in the world in the manufacture of inorganic colors and pigments. Likewise, the achievement of the project will improve the management of WEEE by creating a circular economy model that promotes sustainable growth in different business sectors in Spain by developing a new way of recovering this type of waste through the extraction of different raw materials of commercial interest for application in different sectors. Finally, it should be noted that this project responds to the needs raised in the State Programme of R & D & I oriented to the challenges of the Society, specifically the RECOVER RECOVER action on climate change and efficiency in the use of resources and raw materials, the achievement of the BIOMAT RECOVER project will contribute to the fight against climate change through the reduction of waste present in the environment, the development of sustainable technologies and the increase of efficiency in the use of raw materials through the development of new models of circular economy. In turn, the overall objective of the project is also aligned with the EU Circular Economy Action Plan, and responds to Social Challenges 5 of the EU Horizon 2020 programme: V. Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials. Thus, the BIOMAT RECOVER project aligns with the objectives of ensuring a sustainable supply of non-agricultural and non-energy raw materials through the development of innovative solutions that contribute to creating processes of exploration, extraction, processing, reuse, recycling and recovery of profitable and environmentally friendly raw materials.
