RFAs: Optimise the Usage of Resources in a Circular Economy

The focus areas include significantly enhancing material recycling and upcycling compared to the state of the art through technology development along the value chain and integrated value chain optimisation, reducing the EU’s dependencies on imports by increasing yields from recycling of production waste, residuals, or by‑products, minimising the use of raw materials, fresh water, and energy while avoiding ecosystem and habitat degradation, reducing the impact of impurities in materials produced for strategic applications in terms of environmental, social and governance sustainability, and achieving cost‑efficient use of resources with minimal energy usage and optimised labour, all supported under HORIZON‑RIA — HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions with an indicative total budget of EUR 64,000,000 and expected contributions per project ranging from EUR 5,000,000 to 8,000,000.

Projects should develop and validate advanced technologies and processes covering the entire value chain from the collection, dismantling, sorting and separation of waste to the processing of side streams and production of new high‑quality materials. These actions should improve recycling and upcycling of side streams from production and end‑of‑use waste, including industrial by‑products, and develop upscaled, low‑CO2 processes that reduce dependence on imports and the use of non‑renewable materials. The demonstration of innovative, efficient, and economically viable technologies should reflect real‑world conditions and indicate economic potential while minimising energy and water intake.

Proposals are expected to address at least three key points. These include increasing the share of sustainable feed streams from end‑of‑use waste and fostering circular material flows across sites; improving product designs to facilitate easier recycling and upcycling; enhancing technologies for efficient collection, sorting, characterisation, treatment, and processing of waste and residuals; recovering relevant secondary raw materials, including critical ones, and targeting maximum process efficiency; reducing the usage of scarce and critical raw materials while preserving ecosystems and biodiversity; reducing the number of manufacturing stages to lower energy consumption; and understanding and addressing the effects of specific contaminants on materials produced from secondary feedstock. Where relevant, analytical techniques for micro‑ and nano‑characterisation should be included to support detailed modelling and process influence.

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 that the conditions laid down in the Horizon Europe Regulation and the specific call/topic are met. A legal entity refers to a natural or legal person recognised under national, EU, or international law, which has legal personality and can exercise rights and be subject to obligations, or an entity without legal personality that can act in its own name.

For more information, visit European Commission.