Around €144 million in raw materials locked in electronic waste
An exploration of circular business cases for e-waste in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area, carried out with Metabolic for the 33 MRA municipalities. Only 56% of electronic waste is collected; the 44% leakage stream represents almost half of the value.
44% leakage is almost half the value
E-waste in the MRA contains around €144 million in material value every year. Only 56% of consumer e-waste is collected; the 44% leakage stream disappears to uncertified parties, household waste or residual waste. That leakage stream accounts for around €52 million in lost value per year. Separate collection and local high-value processing can unlock that value.
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Question and context
For the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area, extensive research was carried out into urban mining of residual streams from e-waste: recovering valuable materials from discarded electrical and electronic equipment. The key conclusion is that substantial value is stored in the region and that large volumes of material become available every year. For e-waste, that value amounts to around €144 million per year. Currently, around 50% of it is lost, either ending up in low-value processing or leaking away through untracked streams.
At the regional scale, scientific data was combined with market knowledge to map the potential value of residual streams per MRA municipality. This makes it possible to test concrete solutions for feasibility and calculate the value-creation potential per material stream. For the most promising streams, business cases for collection, lifetime extension and high-value processing were explored together with businesses.
The database and methodology
The geographic scope covers all 33 municipalities of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area. Based on the European WEEE Directive (2002/96/EC) and the EU-funded Horizon 2020 PROSUM project, the largest e-waste fractions were determined: from ICT and telecom equipment and office electronics to large and small household appliances, consumer electronics, lighting, medical equipment and measuring and control instruments. These categories consist of 53 different metals, supplemented by four types of batteries.
To provide insight into the scale across the whole chain, the sub-streams were quantified across nine chain steps, from collection and stock to lifetime extension, end-of-life, processing and recycling. The basis is the CBS Waste over Time (WOT) script within PROSUM, with national data scaled to the MRA based on the number of households. The database was enriched with The Dutch WEEE flows (WE-Cycle, 2010), Milieu Centraal sources, interviews and desk research.
For environmental impact, the EcoInvent database (version 3.4) was used, with the ten most important impact categories according to the CML baseline method. Impact was determined for the metals that together represent 99% of the mass and value of the e-waste. Financial value is based on primary (virgin) value, because secondary value could not be accurately determined due to a lack of information on reuse.
Metals by value and environmental impact
The value of e-waste lies in its metals. Iron dominates the mass, but value and environmental impact are concentrated elsewhere: copper and aluminium together deliver over 40% of the value, and gold represents almost no mass but around 10% of the value and nearly all of the environmental impact.
| Metal | Volume | Share of volume | Value | Share of value | Environmental impact |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iron | 25,930 tonnes | 69.4% | €5.7 mln | 11.1% | 0.00% |
| Aluminium | 4,376 tonnes | 11.7% | €8.6 mln | 16.7% | 0.03% |
| Copper | 2,272 tonnes | 6.1% | €13.1 mln | 25.4% | 0.08% |
| Lead | 1,976 tonnes | 5.3% | €3.9 mln | 7.5% | 0.01% |
| Chromium | 705 tonnes | 1.9% | €1.7 mln | 3.3% | 0.06% |
| Nickel | 404 tonnes | 1.1% | €4.9 mln | 9.6% | 0.33% |
| Water | 575 tonnes | 1.5% | €0 | 0.0% | 0.00% |
| Manganese | 104 tonnes | 0.3% | €0.2 mln | 0.4% | 0.01% |
| Sulfuric acid | 332 tonnes | 0.9% | €0.1 mln | 0.2% | 0.00% |
| Zinc | 273 tonnes | 0.7% | €0.7 mln | 1.4% | 0.01% |
| Polypropylene | 226 tonnes | 0.6% | €0.2 mln | 0.5% | 0.00% |
| Cobalt | 91 tonnes | 0.2% | €7.0 mln | 13.6% | 0.03% |
| Gold | <1 tonne | 0.0% | €5.2 mln | 10.1% | 99.37% |
| Magnesium | 104 tonnes | 0.3% | €0.2 mln | 0.4% | 0.06% |
Annual volumes within the MRA area. Amounts based on primary (virgin) material value. Environmental impact as a share of the total impact of e-waste.
The leakage stream: 44% disappears from view
Only 56% of consumer-produced e-waste is collected. The 44% leakage stream disappears to uncertified parties at home and abroad, or ends up in household waste, residual waste or construction and demolition waste. That leakage stream represents almost half of the estimated economic value: around €52 million in lost value per year.
Separately collecting and reusing or recycling promising residual streams within e-waste at high value greatly increases the total potential. Preventing leakage to uncertified processors is an important condition for this.
Promising cases
Two general cases emerge for capturing local value from e-waste: better collection of consumer e-waste, and local processing of e-waste into new raw materials. At product level, three streams were explored further:
- Small household appliances and consumer ICT — extending lifetime through refurbishment in social work enterprises, so that product value and complexity are preserved instead of being reduced to material level.
- Batteries — used batteries get a second life as a buffer for the electricity grid, instead of being processed at low value.
- Lighting and fixtures — technologies exist to recover valuable materials such as gold, cobalt and aluminium.
In addition, elements from printed circuit boards can be separated so they serve as new raw materials. For all streams, separate, clean collection is the condition for high-value processing.
Solution directions
A total of fifteen solution directions were put forward to improve collection and high-value processing. The main lines:
- Broaden drop-off options, so consumers can hand in e-waste more easily and closer to home.
- A financial incentive for handing in electronic waste, to increase collection.
- Scale up refurbishment, including through social work enterprises, to keep products in use longer.
- Prevent leakage streams through better enforcement against uncertified processing, and encourage certified processing.
- Develop local processing, so valuable metals such as gold, cobalt and aluminium are recovered in the region.
Feasibility and next steps
In a first working session with e-waste collectors and processors, the feasibility of the solutions was discussed. Although chain partners recognise significant potential in better collection and higher-value reuse, this session did not yet provide enough verified footholds to fully calculate the solutions into business cases.
A second working session explored chain-wide solutions further. This showed that efforts should focus on preventing leakage to uncertified parties, encouraging certified processing and improving enforcement. A key recommendation to the MRA is to develop pilot projects around better collection, enforcement against leakage streams and scaling up refurbishment, so that product value is preserved.
Open database and calculation model
Both the database and the calculation model used to estimate the volume and value of e-waste have been made public. This makes visible to everyone how large the financial potential is when a circular business model is applied to these streams, for the MRA as a whole and for individual municipalities.
The calculation model is activity-based: for each chain step, a distinction is made between variable costs, fixed costs, investments and processing percentages. This produces a break-even volume, which is compared with the available volume in the MRA, making visible how much volume must be used at minimum to make a processing route profitable.
Method and sources
E-waste streams were quantified across nine chain steps using the CBS Waste over Time (WOT) script within the Horizon 2020 PROSUM project, with national data scaled to the MRA based on the number of households. The database was enriched with The Dutch WEEE flows (WE-Cycle, 2010), Milieu Centraal, interviews and desk research. Environmental impact was determined using the EcoInvent database (version 3.4) and the ten most important impact categories of the CML baseline method. Financial value is based on primary (virgin) material value. Carried out by New Economy together with Metabolic, as part of the circular ambition of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area. The database and calculation model are public.
This exploration maps the circular value of e-waste through urban mining: recovering materials from discarded electronics. It shows how the region can move from leakage streams and low-value processing to lifetime extension and high-value reuse — a step towards regenerative material use. Read also the parallel exploration of construction and demolition waste in the MRA.
How to cite
New Economy and Metabolic (2018). Circular business cases in the MRA — e-waste. Exploration of urban mining for the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area. Available via neweconomy.eco.
Download the report
- Circular Business Cases in the MRA — E-waste (PDF)The full report with the metals analysis, the leakage stream, the cases, the solution directions and the recommendations. Download the report (PDF)
Frequently asked questions
Insights from this project
Urban mining MRA e-waste
New Economy and Metabolic made the material value and leakage stream of e-waste in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area explicit, translating e-waste into circular business cases, high-value processing and value retention.
E-waste in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area contains around €144 million in material value every year. Around 50% of that is currently lost through low-value processing and leakage streams.
Only 56% of consumer e-waste is collected. The 44% leakage stream disappears to uncertified parties, household waste or residual waste, and accounts for around €52 million in lost value per year.
Copper delivers around 25% of the value, aluminium around 17% and cobalt around 14%. Gold represents almost no mass but around 10% of the value and nearly all of the environmental impact (99%).
By broadening collection, scaling up refurbishment of small household appliances and ICT, using batteries as a buffer for the electricity grid, and recovering metals such as gold, cobalt and aluminium from lighting.
New Economy carried out the exploration together with Metabolic, for the 33 municipalities of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area. Both the underlying database and the calculation model have been made public.
Related reading
Urban mining for region, municipality or chain
From material streams to concrete circular business cases. New Economy maps the value of residual streams and translates it into feasible business models for regions, municipalities and chain partners.
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