Smart ground project: a new approach to data accessibility and collection for raw materials and secondary raw materials in Europe

Abstract

Steady Raw Materials (RM) supply is essential for the EU economy and increasingly under pressure to sustain the businesses and industries demand. The supply of RM is not only a matter of availability of primary but also of secondary raw materials (SRM). In fact a great amount of waste can be regained as practical and valuable SRM by enhancing the recovery processes from industrial, mining and municipal landfill sites, especially if we consider that Europe is highly dependent on the imports of several RM. Nevertheless, there is to date no inventory of SRM at EU level. Smart Ground project aims to facilitate the availability and accessibility of data and information on SRM in the EU, as well as creating synergy and collaboration between the different stakeholders involved in the SRM value chain. In order to do so, the Smart Ground consortium is carrying out a set of activities to integrate in a single EU database all the data from existing sources and new information retrieving pilot landfills as progress is made. Such database will enable the exchange of contacts and information among the relevant stakeholders, interested in providing or obtaining SRM. Finally, Smart Ground project will also spin out the SRM economy and employment thanks to targeted training activities, organized during congresses and dedicated meeting with stakeholders and end users interested in calculating the potentiality for SRM recovery from selected landfills, contemporary constituting a dedicated network of stakeholders committed to cost-effective research, technology transfer and training.