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Urban circular economy in practice by managing the recovery of critical metals in micro-e-mobility: Technical solutions and governance implications (UC-Mobility)

  • Duration: 2023 - 2025
  • Status: Ongoing

The UC-Mobility project develops technological solutions for the recovery of critical raw materials from end-of-life micro-mobility devices, namely e-scooters and e-bikes. Critical metals, such as cobalt and neodymium, are captured from end-of-life waste using recovery technology based on 3D-printed scavengers developed at the University of Jyväskylä. This technology allows the selective recovery of critical and economically valuable metals.

Project management
Emilia Suomalainen
Project team
Jáchym Judl (Syke), Markku Karhunen (Syke), Petrus Kautto (Syke), Claire Mosoni (Syke), Inkeri Saarenaho (Syke), Johanna Suikkanen (Syke), Topi Turunen (Syke), Siiri Perämäki (JYU), Ari Väisänen (JYU)
Financiers
Other national financier, Business Finland (Decarbonized Cities)
Partners
Jyväskylän yliopisto (coordinator)
Subject area
Circular economy, Research

During this project, Finnish Environment Institute will assess the environmental impacts of the new process technology as well as the wider system-level impacts of micro-mobility in cities. The project will also look into the regulation of micro-mobility, its recycling and end-of-life wastes. Our aim is to propose policy recommendations for the management of wastes and materials recovery from EOL micro-mobility devices (e-scooters and e-bikes). In addition, our goal is to quantify the existing micro-mobility fleets in Finland and to look into their potential future development and critical material needs.

More information: Leading researcher Emilia Suomalainen, firstname.lastname@syke.fi