Mitsubishi Materials announced on October 23, 2026 that its planned recycling smelter project “3ECYCLE” in the Netherlands was selected by the European Commission on October 9 as a Strategic Project under the EU Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), legislation designed to secure the EU’s supply of raw materials deemed critical to its economy.
3ECYCLE aims to recover and recycle metals such as copper mainly from electronic scrap (e-scrap), and is currently in the preparatory stage toward realization. According to the Dutch government, the project plans to recover high-purity copper through a closed-loop metallurgical process. It aims to contribute to building a resource-circulating society in Europe and to ensuring a stable supply of strategic raw materials, including copper.
Strategic Projects under the CRMA are selected by the European Commission as initiatives that help the EU secure a stable supply of strategic raw materials. Selection criteria include how much a project contributes to securing strategic raw materials, its technical feasibility, its sustainability, and whether it brings benefits beyond the country where the project is based. On October 9, the European Commission selected a second batch of 46 projects across 16 member states, with 3ECYCLE among them. Selected projects receive support in the form of expedited permitting procedures as well as assistance in securing financing and finding buyers. For recycling and processing projects, permitting procedures are, in principle, required to be completed within 15 months.
Under its medium-term management strategy (fiscal years 2026–2028), the Mitsubishi Materials Group has set “becoming a company that creates the future through resource circulation business” as a basic policy, positioning the sustainable use of resources—including the circular use of secondary raw materials—as a key strategic priority. 3ECYCLE is one such initiative, and the company says it will continue to study commercialization while leveraging its non-ferrous metal smelting and recycling technologies, contributing to the circular use of secondary raw materials within Europe, a stable supply of strategic raw materials, and the development of the circular economy.
【Press release】Mitsubishi Materials’ European secondary raw materials smelting project “3ECYCLE” selected as a Strategic Project under the EU Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA)
【Reference】Commission Decision C(2026) 8051 Annex: List of Strategic Projects
【Reference】EU wijst 4 Nederlandse projecten aan als strategisch voor kritieke grondstoffen (in Dutch)
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