Chemical substances, including substances hazardous to the environment and/or human health, can enter recycling processes through articles and mixtures which become waste. Some substances have such hazardous properties that they should, as far as possible, be phased out. Of special interest are Substances of Very High Concern (SVHCs), as defined in REACH, as well as cadmium, mercury and lead. Once in the recycling process, there is a possibility that hazardous substances, including SVHCs, end up in the recycled material, and hence recirculated into new products.

The aim of this report is to provide an accessible review of techniques that can be used to control SVHCs in recycling processes. This includes techniques that can detect, quantify and/or remove hazardous substances in any of the different steps during a recycling process. The review is intended to provide information in a clear and comprehensible manner and to be easily accessible for work regarding instruments and actions for phasing out SVHC in recycling processes.

Literature and interview studies were performed to investigate available and coming techniques. A large number of different possible techniques of interest for the study were initially identified. Of these, a certain number were selected, primarily based on their applicability with regard to the set requirements (i.e. to detect, quantify and/or remove hazardous substances and SVHCs), as well as the frequency with which the techniques were mentioned in the literature and in interviews. Hence, techniques that were only mentioned briefly or by single references were generally not selected for further investigation. The results from the study are presented as technical summaries, in Appendix 1.

The review showed that there are a number of available techniques that perform control of different hazardous substances, although sometimes as a valuable side effect from sorting material streams into more homogeneous fractions. Mechanical recycling is the predominant type of recycling today, although several initiatives are developing techniques for chemical recycling. It was, however, difficult to evaluate the potential of the chemical recycling techniques with regard to control of SVHCs.

Other aspects revealed during the interviews include difficulties with regard to limited markets for recycled materials, a need for policy action regarding stricter regulations and lower limit values for SVHCs and other hazardous substances in articles and mixtures, as well as a need for testing standards with recommendations for continuous measurements with SVHC-specific techniques.