ProSum seeks to centralize European recycling data

Some 50 organizations have helped contribute to the Prospecting Secondary Raw Materials in the Urban Mine and Mining Wastes (ProSUM) project, which will be introduced at the first Urban Mine Knowledge Data Platform in Brussels on Nov. 10, 2017.

A news release sent by United Kingdom-based REPIC says the event “will showcase the results of over two years of data analysis by some 50 expert organizations across a host of different waste streams.” The project intended to deliver what REPIC calls “a centralized database on arisings, stocks and flows of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), end of life vehicles (ELVs), batteries and mining wastes.”

The initiative is being led by the WEEE Forum, an association of 33 not-for-profit producer compliance schemes, of which REPIC is a member.

“The database is expected to go into beta testing this summer, with any adjustments made prior to our information network day in November,” says Sarah Downes, REPIC’s environmental affairs manager and ProSUM’s project leader. “Once up and running, this database could be used to improve the management of recycled materials by providing valuable insight into historic and future trends on products and materials.”

Adds Downes, “In a circular economy, today’s goods are tomorrow’s resources. As a collective industry, we need to get better at recycling, and improving our knowledge is a critical step.”

REPIC says the Urban Mine Knowledge Data Platform can offer “seamless access to data and intelligence on mineral resource from extraction to end-of-life products,” and that “for the first time, primary and secondary raw material data will be easily accessible in one platform with data available to understand the potential for expanded recovery and collection of secondary raw materials from the urban mine.”

Users will be able to perform searches and access maps, graphs, charts and specific reports through ProSum, according to REPIC.

Every year in Europe, around 9 million metric tons of WEEE and 8 million metric tons of ELVs are generated, and more than 1 billion batteries are sold, say the groups. These products, the groups note, “are a rich source of secondary critical raw materials in the urban mine.”

Until now, the data on secondary critical raw materials has been produced by a variety of institutions, including government agencies, universities, not-for-profits and industry associations, “and lies scattered in different databases, formats and reports [that are] difficult to compare or aggregate,” according to REPIC.

The ProSUM Information Network event will be held within the framework of Raw Materials Week. REPIC is a not-for-profit company established in January 2004 by member companies of three U.K. trade associations in the electrical and electronics industry, to meet their producer obligations under the WEEE Directive.