The facility at Wilton Centre is the first operational deployment of DEScycle’s distributed, modular processing platform, designed to recover metals closer to where materials are generated rather than relying on centralised smelting or overseas processing. Operating at 250kg batch scale, the plant can process 50 to 100 tonnes annually during the demonstration phase and marks the company’s achievement of Technology Readiness Level 7.

The opening comes after industry minister Chris McDonald announced £50 million for domestic critical minerals production as part of the government’s Critical Minerals Strategy. DEScycle has partnerships with Cisco, which will supply materials to the facility, and Mitsubishi Corporation, which will evaluate commercial routes for domestically processed metals. The technology was developed from UKRI-supported research at the University of Leicester and scaled with the Centre for Process Innovation.

The largest site on the list is Northwich in Cheshire, with 281,000 tonnes of contaminated soil. Other sites with more than 100,000 tonnes include Pershore in Worcestershire (up to 180,000 tonnes of mixed shredded waste), Iken in Suffolk (121,000 tonnes of construction and demolition waste), Broadbridge Heath in East Sussex, Over in Gloucestershire, and Stapleford Tawney in London. Waste types across the full list range from construction and demolition material and mixed shredded waste to tyres, vehicles and asbestos.

The Environment Agency said it was restricted in the detail it could publish to avoid prejudicing ongoing enquiries and enforcement action, but committed to releasing more site-specific information by summer 2026.

EMR will use its EV battery, end-of-life vehicle and research expertise to identify and recover magnet-containing components. The consortium also includes HyProMag, Mkango Rare Earths UK, Less Common Metals and the University of Birmingham. Recovered materials will be processed and remanufactured into new automotive-grade neodymium-iron-boron magnets for return to UK manufacturing.

The project is supported through the DRIVE35 programme, delivered in partnership with the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK and Innovate UK, with £3.2 million in government funding. It builds on EMR’s involvement in other DRIVE35 projects including CircularREEconomy and MOBIUS, which are developing approaches to recovering critical materials across the automotive sector.

The evoZero cement gains its near-zero carbon credentials from carbon capture and storage at Heidelberg Materials’ Brevik plant in Norway, which captures around 50 per cent of the facility’s emissions - approximately 400,000 tonnes a year. Rather than shipping cement from Norway, the carbon reduction is transferred to locally sourced UK cement through an Environmental Attribute Certificate, with traceability for each Edgemere 2.0 order.

Heidelberg Materials is also building a carbon capture facility at its Padeswood cement works in north Wales, expected to be operational in 2029. That project is designed to capture around 95 per cent of emissions from the existing works - approximately 800,000 tonnes a year - and will produce evoZero cement in the UK.