Wallonia plans to position itself as a "recycling valley" by treating its own metal waste. The Reverse Metallurgy platform which brings together many innovative partners active in the area of metal recycling, works on new industrial opportunities in this field in Wallonia. In practical terms, companies who wish to do so approach the platform to find solutions for treating their waste. There are already around ten public and private companies in Wallonia that have used the platform.

Two years ago, the University of Liege launched operation "Reverse Metallurgy" in order to find a way to recover almost all the metals contained in our waste and reuse them. Today, the platform offers those companies that want them, solutions for treating their waste. Around ten companies in Wallonia have already used it. This Monday, it presented the development of its activities in terms of waste recycling.

The aim of Reverse Metallurgy is to recycle metals so that they can be used again as raw materials. The recycled metals will then have a second life and can be returned to the market. Chromium, cobalt, gold, tantalum and platinum are just some of the metals found in everyday objects such as mobile phones, computer motherboards and even medical tools. These metals also stand out due to their rarity.

Under the Marshall Plan, 41.5 million euros will be invested in the "Reverse Metallurgy" initiative which brings together various Walloon industrial and academic partners with the aim of developing techniques to recover rare materials from recycled metals.

A very high temperature furnace to melt waste and separate out the different chemical elements will be installed at Engis, within the Hydrometal company.