DEScycle yesterday opened its first demonstration plant at Wilton Centre in Teesside, marking the first operational deployment of its distributed metals processing infrastructure platform and a significant step towards strengthening the UK’s domestic critical minerals supply chain.
The UK Government’s Critical Minerals Strategy sets an ambition for recycling to meet 20% of annual UK critical mineral demand by 2035. The launch comes as the UK looks to build greater resilience in critical minerals, which are essential for manufacturing, clean energy, technology and national security. Just last month, Chris McDonald MP, Minister for Industry, visited DEScycle and the Wilton Centre to announce a £50m investment for the domestic production of critical minerals. DEScycle’s Teesside facility will demonstrate how critical and precious metals can be recovered from complex electronic waste closer to where materials are generated, rather than exported for processing overseas.
Credit: DEScycle
From left to right: Fred White, Ben Houchen, Leo Howden, Anna Turley, Rob Harris
Operating at 250kg batch scale, the plant is capable of processing 50–100 tonnes of material annually during the demonstration phase and will support DEScycle’s transition from pilot operations to repeatable commercial deployment.
The Rt Hon Anna Turley MP for Redcar, and Lord Ben Houchen, Tees Valley Mayor, opened the facility. They were joined by local dignitaries, key UK and international investors, and industry stakeholders.
Speaking at the opening, The Rt Hon Anna Turley MP said:
“Critical metals are essential to Britain’s manufacturing, energy, technology and national security, yet too much valuable metal-bearing waste is still exported for processing overseas. That means the UK loses materials, economic value and control over strategically important supply chains. DEScycle’s plant in Redcar is an important step towards changing that.”
Lord Houchen, Tees Valley Mayor, added:
"Teesside has always been at the forefront of industrial innovation, and it's fantastic to see companies like DEScycle choosing our region to develop new technology that turns electronic waste into valuable critical minerals. That's good for our economy, good for our environment and another example of Teesside leading the way in the industries of the future. We have the skills, the industrial expertise and the ambition to help companies like DEScycle grow, creating high-quality jobs and attracting more investment into our region."
Leo Howden, CEO at DEScycle, commented:
“This facility is the first operational blueprint for DEScycle’s distributed metals processing model. It allows us to prove the platform in an industrial environment, generate the data needed for commercial deployment and show how modular processing capacity can be replicated across industrial clusters in the UK, US, Europe and Japan. At a time when critical minerals are urgently needed for AI, electrification and advanced manufacturing, we believe the UK has an opportunity to lead in a new model of metals processing.”
Waste Minister, Mary Creagh CBE MP, said:
“The UK generates millions of tonnes of e-waste each year, most of which goes abroad for recovery and recycling. Recovering these critical metals and materials here in the UK is vital for our supply chain resilience, resource security and climate goals. I am delighted to see a British start-up like DEScycle showing how innovation strengthens the circular economy and reduces our reliance on sometimes fragile overseas supply chains."
Professor Louise Heathwaite, Executive Chair of the Natural Environment Research Council, part of UKRI, added:
"DEScycle's new facility is an excellent example of how UK research and innovation can help tackle complex challenges around resource use, waste and critical minerals. The technology underpinning DEScycle grew from UKRI-supported curiosity-driven research at the University of Leicester, leading to new ways to recover valuable metals more efficiently and with less environmental impact.”
Commissioning of the facility marks DEScycle's achievement of Technology Readiness Level 7 (TRL7). Initial operations will focus on processing printed circuit boards and other complex electronic feedstocks supplied through DEScycle's UK joint venture partner GAP Group. The first products produced at the facility will be gold, copper, silver and palladium, with DEScycle also developing recovery capabilities for tin, iron and aluminium.
DEScycle has announced a collaboration with Cisco to provide materials to the facility, while Mitsubishi Corporation will conduct an offtake study to evaluate commercial routes to market for domestically processed metals. Together, these partnerships establish the commercial pathway underpinning distributed metals processing, validating feedstock supply, modular operations and downstream offtake.
Wilton Centre was selected for its industrial infrastructure, pilot plant capabilities and position within Teesside’s growing industrial innovation cluster. As part of the Pioneer Group ecosystem, the site provides technical development support and a near plug-and-play environment as DEScycle moves towards commercial scale-up.
DEScycle is a British start-up that has developed a technology using a novel class of chemistry discovered by the University of Leicester and worked with the UK Catapult CPI (Centre for Process Innovation) to scale from the lab to pilot. The launch marks the company’s transition from UK-based research to industrial deployment.