STENA RECYCLING INTERNATIONAL AB

Their core work

Stena Recycling International is a major Swedish recycling and materials recovery company, part of the Stena Metall Group. In H2020, they contribute industrial-scale recycling expertise to projects focused on recovering critical raw materials — rare earth elements, cobalt, and hazardous-free plastics — from end-of-life products like batteries, electronics (WEEE), vehicles (ELV), and construction waste (CDW). Their role is to bring real-world recycling infrastructure and process know-how to pilot and demonstration projects that close the loop on strategic European materials.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Stena's early H2020 involvement (2015–2018) centered on metallurgical recovery of critical raw materials — cobalt from batteries and rare earths via high-temperature electrolysis — with a strong hydrometallurgy and electrochemistry focus. From 2019 onward, their scope broadened to include plastic recycling, ecodesign, and the safe handling of hazardous substances like flame retardants, while maintaining their rare earth magnet work. The shift signals a move from pure metals recovery toward a wider circular economy agenda that includes non-metallic waste streams.

Stena is expanding from critical metals recovery into broader circular economy challenges including hazardous plastics, suggesting future interest in integrated waste valorization across multiple material streams.

How they like to work

Stena participates exclusively as a partner, never as coordinator — consistent with a large industrial company contributing real-world recycling infrastructure and operational expertise to research-driven consortia. With 66 unique partners across 14 countries in just 4 projects, they join large, diverse consortia (averaging ~17 partners per project). This makes them accessible as a consortium partner and signals openness to new collaborations rather than loyalty to a closed network.

Stena has collaborated with 66 unique partners across 14 countries through 4 projects, giving them a broad European network concentrated in the critical raw materials and circular economy research community. Their connections span universities, research institutes, and industrial partners across the EU.

What sets them apart

Stena brings something most research consortia struggle to find: a large-scale, operational recycling company willing to host pilot demonstrations and provide real waste streams for testing. Unlike research institutes that work at lab scale, Stena can validate recovery processes under industrial conditions. For any consortium working on critical raw materials or circular economy, they offer the bridge between prototype and commercial reality.

Highlights from their portfolio

• REE4EU
  Their largest funded project (EUR 226K), combining high-temperature electrolysis with ionic liquid extraction for rare earth recovery — an ambitious process integration challenge.
• SUSMAGPRO
  Targets the full circular economy chain for rare earth magnets — from recovery through reprocessing to netshape manufacture — at pilot scale.
• NONTOX
  Represents Stena's expansion beyond metals into hazardous plastics recycling from electronics, vehicles, and construction waste.