Background

The steeply increasing demand for electronic devices and equipment, combined with the recent rise of high-technology greedy societal orientations like e-mobility and energy transition lead to vast amounts of e-wastes (WEEE). Most of the million tons of WEEE generated annually are only partially recycled up to now. This impedes dramatically EU goals towards a Circular Economy. In order to improve recycling efficiency and thus minimize our environmental footprint, modern recycling plants need multi-component sensors that can identify rapidly complex materials accurately. 

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Accordingly, new solutions for increased recycling rates need to overcome time- and cost-intensive existing material detection methods, which are incompatible with the urgent need to recycle increasingly complex industrial waste and automate adaption procedures when the composition changes.