In these times of the climate crisis surrounding us, the improvement of technologies responsible for the emission of the largest amounts of greenhouse gases is necessary and increasingly required by top-down regulations. As the sector responsible to a large extent for global logistics and supply chains, the fuel sector is one of the most studied in terms of reducing its harmful impact. The development of the next generations of fuels and biofuels, produced by companies using increasingly modern, cleaner and sustainable technologies, is able to significantly reduce the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. In this case, the most effective solution seems to be the use of closed loops. Due to their low, often zero emission balance and the possibility of using waste to produce materials that can be reused, a circular economy is used in many sectors of the economy, while ensuring the emission purity of technological processes. One of the innovative solutions proposed in recent years is the installation created as part of the BioRen project, implemented under the Horizon 2020 program. The cooperation of European institutes with companies from the SME sector has resulted in the creation of an experimental cycle of modern technologies for the production of second-generation biofuels. The project involves the processing of municipal solid waste into second-generation drop-in biofuels. The entire process scheme assumes, in addition to the production of biofuels, the processing of inorganic fractions, the production of carbon material for the production of thermal energy, and the simultaneous treatment of wastewater.

The growing increase in the use of cars and transportation in general is causing an increase the emission of pollutants into the atmosphere. The current European Union regulations impose the minimization of pollution through the use of automotive catalytic converters on all member countries, which stops toxic compounds from being emitted into the atmosphere thanks to their contents of platinum group metals (PGMs). However, the growing demand for cars and the simultaneous demand for catalytic converters is contributing to the depletion of the primary sources of PGMs. This is why there is now increasing interest in recycling PGMs from catalytic converters through constantly developing technologies. There are newer and more sustainable solutions for the recovery of PGMs from catalytic converters, making the process part of a circular economy (CE) model. The purpose of this article is to present two innovative methods of PGM recovery in the framework of ongoing research and development projects.

Building a Strategic Battery Value Chain in Europe COM/2019/176 is a priority for EU policy. Europe’s current share of global cell production is only 3%, while Asia has already reached 85%. To ensure a competitive position and independence in the battery market, Europe must act quickly and comprehensively in the field of innovation, research and construction of the infrastructure needed for large-scale battery production. The recycling of used batteries can have a significant role in ensuring EU access to raw materials. In the coming years, a very rapid development of the battery and rechargable battery market is forecast throughout the EU. In the above context, the recycling of used batteries plays an important role not only because of their harmful content and environmental impact, or adverse impact on human health and life, but also the ability to recover many valuable secondary raw materials and combine them in the battery life cycle (Horizon 2010 Work Programme 2018–2020 (European Commission Decision C(2019) 4575 of 2 July 2019)). In Poland, more than 80% of used batteries are disposable batteries, which, together with municipal waste, end up in a landfill and pose a significant threat to the environment. This paper examines scenarios and directions for development of the battery recycling market in Poland based on the analysis of sources of financing, innovations as well as economic and legal changes across the EU and Poland concerning recycling of different types of batteries and rechargable batteries.

The Green Deal and the New Industrial Strategy for Europe recognize the access to raw materials and the security of supply from secondary and primary sources as essential for Europe’s transition to sustainability. It can be expected that with the development of the circular economy approach, the extraction of primary resources would be diminished, but it is emphasized that a circular economy may need a wider range of metals and other raw materials critical to the new environmentally friendly technology, especially in renewable energy and mobility. Therefore, the latest global initiatives and EU policies focus on ensuring resource efficiency in a holistic manner, from the extraction of raw materials to the re-use of the end products, which requires data transparency not only on material and waste flows, but also on financial and economic burdens including incentives and subsidies. In addition, for sectors with significant environmental impacts, the transparency of information on payments to central governments and local authorities can increase social acceptance and accountability and allow for further development. The paper analyzes regulations and initiatives supporting the disclosure of wider data than required in financial and corporate social responsibility reporting related to the implementation of a circular economy. As circular economy indicators take upstream resource flows into account, the transparency of environmental and economic data in the value chain is required, for example for the calculation of the environmental footprint. Moreover, transparency is important for mining companies’ stakeholders to increase social acceptance of mining activities and facilitate the transition to a circular economy.