Deadline Date: 21-April-2026
The European Commission is currently accepting grant applications to enhance sustainable recycling and reuse of raw materials from end‑of‑life products and urban mines to improve resource efficiency, reduce environmental impacts, and support the responsible supply of raw materials in the European Union.
The focus areas include raw materials recycling and reuse of components and/or products from end‑of‑life products and urban mines with cost‑effective and efficient disassembly, separation, shredding and sorting technologies and the sustainable embedment of the process regarding energy, resource and water efficiency; projects analysing impacts on biodiversity of urban mines and proposing solutions for reducing these impacts with the aim of renaturing these sites; and improved responsible supply of raw materials to Europe contributing to the Critical Raw Materials Act objectives, all supported under HORIZON‑IA — HORIZON Innovation Actions with an indicative budget of EUR 28,000,000 and expected contributions per project of around EUR 7,500,000.
Proposals should ensure prominent involvement of the EU‑based recycling industry and users of recovered secondary raw materials, allocating appropriate resources to strengthen this industrial role. Actions should also envisage clustering activities with related projects on bioremediation, second life use, reuse, repurposing and remanufacturing of products or components. These clustering activities are intended to support cross‑project cooperation, consultations, joint activities on cross‑cutting issues, shared results and participation in meetings and communication events, and should be supported by dedicated work packages and earmarked resources.
Submitted proposals must include a business case and a credible exploitation strategy that covers all required elements as outlined in the introduction to the Destination. For technology readiness levels 6‑7, a credible strategy for achieving future full‑scale deployment in the EU is expected, including clear commitments from industrial partners for deployment after the project end.
Any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment, including legal entities from non‑associated third countries or international organisations, is eligible to participate provided the conditions laid down in the Horizon Europe Regulation and the specific call/topic are met. A legal entity is defined as any natural or legal person created and recognised under national, EU or international law with legal personality and the capacity to exercise rights and be subject to obligations, or an entity without legal personality capable of acting in its own name.
For more information, visit European Commission.
