RESPECT x FRE4LIB Final Event: Closing the Loop: The Future of Battery Recycling in Europe

On 2 June 2026, the RESPECT and FREE4LIB consortia jointly hosted their final conference in Brussels, bringing together over 100 registered participants from across the European battery ecosystem, including researchers, industry representatives, policymakers, and other EU-funded projects. The event marked the formal conclusion of both projects and provided a compelling platform to showcase four years of innovation in battery recycling and to chart the path ahead for Europe's circular battery value chain.

The conference opened with remarks from both project coordinators, Justo García (Orano, RESPECT) and Juan Castro (CARTIF, FREE4LIB), who framed the event's ambition: closing the loop of the battery recycling process, from end-of-life collection through to the reintroduction of recovered materials into new battery production.

The opening keynote was delivered by Dr. Franz Geyer from BMW Group, offering an OEM perspective on the future of battery recycling in Europe. Drawing on BMW's experience managing circular supply chains at scale, Dr. Geyer underscored the urgency of deploying available recycling technologies while calling for clearer regulatory frameworks and stronger industrial coordination to meet the EU Battery Regulation's ambitious material recovery targets.

The morning sessions were dedicated to presenting the combined scientific and technical achievements of both projects across the full recycling value chain.

RESPECT's contributions were highlighted throughout three thematic results blocks.

Justo García (Orano) presented the overall picture of the work carried out in the project, while Guillaume Barbe (CEVA Logistics) addressed collection and logistics. Antoine Driancourt (CEA) presented advances in pre-treatment and materials concentration, where RESPECT's innovative processes have shown strong promise for the efficient recovery of critical raw materials.

The hydrometallurgy and direct recycling results, delivered by Benjamin Wilson (Aalto University) and Ivana Hasa (WMG), were presented alongside FREE4LIB's complementary processing work, illustrating how the two projects have tackled different but complementary stages of the recycling chain.

The sustainability assessment results presented by Edgar Contreras (LOMARTOV) reinforced a key finding from RESPECT: NMC battery recycling delivers significant environmental and social benefits compared to the continued extraction of virgin materials.

The afternoon opened with a keynote by MEP Ivars Ijabs (RENEW Europe), offering a parliamentary perspective on clean energy transition and Europe's strategic autonomy in critical raw materials. His contribution reflected the growing political salience of battery recycling as a cornerstone of the European Green Deal and industrial sovereignty.

A roundtable on research collaboration, moderated by David Storer and Rita Denisenko (CLEPA), brought together representatives from the Cluster Hub projects (BATRAW, LICORNE, RHINOCEROS, RESPECT and FREE4LIB) and BEPA to explore best practices and identify opportunities for future cooperation across the value chain.

Two high-level panel discussions shaped the policy debate in the latter part of the afternoon.

The first, moderated by Fabrice Stassin (BEPA), examined industry's circular battery roadmap for the future, with contributions from Dr. Franz Geyer (BMW), Clemence Siret (SAFT), Aleix Vila (EURECAT), and David Anguera (ACCUREC). Panellists discussed the investment, infrastructure, and policy conditions required to scale recycling solutions commercially across Europe.

The second panel, moderated by Elena Bonvecchio (BEPA), focused on the transition from regulation to implementation, specifically, how the EU can foster a competitive battery recycling value chain in practice. It brought together Johan Blondelle (DG RTD, European Commission), Justo García (Orano), Evaristo García (RECYCLIA), and Rana Pant (DG ENV, European Commission). The discussion highlighted the need for coherent coordination across regulatory instruments, reinforcing that Europe now possesses many of the required technologies — what remains is the political will and industrial mobilisation to deploy them at scale.

The joint final event was a fitting conclusion to the RESPECT project's journey. Since 2022, the consortium has developed and validated a suite of innovative recycling processes, from battery deactivation and pre-treatment through hydrometallurgy and direct recycling, aimed at enabling a competitive, circular, and sustainable European battery manufacturing industry.

The conference demonstrated that the project's results go beyond the laboratory: they contribute directly to the EU's objectives on critical raw materials security, the EU Battery Regulation's recovery targets, and Europe's ambitions for industrial resilience and climate neutrality.