EU Selects Four Dutch Projects to Secure Essential Materials

2026-10-10 green

The Hague, Saturday, 10 October 2026.
In October 2026, the EU designated four Dutch recycling projects as strategic initiatives. Part of a 46-project European drive requiring €21.1 billion, this effort aims to reduce supply dependence on China.

Strategic Designation and Dutch Recycling Leadership

On 9 October 2026, the European Commission officially designated 46 new strategic projects across 16 member states, including four key circular economy initiatives based in the Netherlands [1][2][4]. The selection process evaluated 102 applications submitted under the second call for proposals, which closed on 15 January 2026 [3][4]. The newly selected projects require an estimated capital investment of €21.1 billion from combined public and private funding sources [2][6]. Heleen Herbert, the Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate, highlighted that these strategic designations allow Dutch entrepreneurs to significantly strengthen supply chain resilience and reduce Europe’s strategic dependencies on third countries such as China [1][2][5].

Advanced Processing and Metal Recovery Initiatives

Among the selected Dutch innovators, Myne Circular Metals recycles low-grade scrap metal into high-grade secondary aluminum and copper [1][5]. To replace primary raw materials across industrial manufacturing, Myne Circular Metals aims to expand its operations across multiple European facilities with an individual capacity of 50,000 tonnes per year [1]. Simultaneously, Mitsubishi Materials (also cited as Mitsubishi Materials Tools Europe) is advancing a closed metallurgical process to recover high-purity copper and tungsten from electronic waste streams [1][5]. Building on commercial deployment at existing European installations, the project targets a production output of 60 kilotons of copper cathodes [1].

Addressing the rapidly expanding electric vehicle sector, Netherlands-based Back to Battery utilizes hydrometallurgical processes to process end-of-life lithium-ion batteries [1][5]. The company converts battery feedstocks into critical secondary materials including lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, and graphite [1][5]. Starting with an initial capacity of 2,000 tonnes per year in the Netherlands, Back to Battery plans to scale production up to 26,000 tonnes annually—representing a growth calculation of 1200%—to capture approximately 10% of the European market by 2030 [1]. Complementing battery recovery, Dutch project CRITICAL. (referred to as CRITICAL.GREEN) focuses on extracting critical materials from complex printed circuit boards [1][5]. Initially targeting the extraction of nine elements, the facility aims to scale technology to refine up to 24 separate elements for the European manufacturing industry [1].

European Union Benchmarks and Regulatory Context

The selection aligns with the European Union’s Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), which entered into force on 23 May 2024 to mitigate risk across supply chains supporting defense, aerospace, and energy transition sectors [3][4]. Under the CRMA framework, the European Union has established legally binding benchmarks for 2030: extracting at least 10%, processing 40%, and recycling 25% of its annual consumption of critical raw materials [2][3][4]. While designated status does not guarantee direct financial grants, it provides priority permitting support, streamlined administrative approval, and enhanced access to EU-level funding and business development resources [1][2][6].

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Supply Chain Critical Raw Materials