The Just Transition Fund, a European lever for a circular and local battery recycling industry

Review of Lisa Grasser's speech to the European Commission, Director of Programs at Mecaware

To mark the 5ᵉanniversary of the Just Transition Fund, on October 21, 2025, the European Commission organized a session dedicated to the industrial projects supported by the FTJ.

Guest speakers included Lisa Grasser, Director of Programs at Mecaware, who presented how the company's disruptive technology and circular business model are helping to strengthen Europe's strategic sovereignty in the field of strategic metals and batteries.

A voice for a European recycling industry

During the Cleantech round table, Lisa Grasser emphasized the extent to which the environmental performance and circularity promoted by Mecaware are concrete levers for industrial autonomy, but also the specific regional roots of the system:  

"Building a European recycling industry means ensuring that strategic battery metals can be reused locally, rather than relying on distant supply chains.

Mecaware technology, based on a circular and decarbonized chemistry approach, is fully in line with this ambition: to transform waste into European resources.

The Fonds de transition juste, whose implementation is decentralized to the level of the Regions, played a decisive role in enabling us to set up our pilot in Béthune and launch this industrial dynamic in the Hauts-de-France region."

His speech highlighted the convergence between European ambition and territorial roots: an agile, sustainable and job-creating industrial model, at the service of a more circular economy.

Securing waste flows: an essential condition

Lisa Grasser also insisted on a point that is fundamental to the success of the sector: securing the waste flows ("feedstock") feeding the recycling processes.

"To guarantee the performance of our business, it's essential to secure battery scrap feedstocks with sufficient quality. As our Technical Director says, 'garbage in, garbage out': if the input material isn't properly sorted or prepared, we can't get high-purity metals out."

This requirement reflects a conviction shared within Mecaware: effective recycling depends on mastery of the entire value chain, from collection to the production of "battery-grade" metals.

Mecaware is keen to play an active role in structuring this new European value chain, by collaborating with players in the collection, sorting and preparation of flows to guarantee high-quality secondary raw materials. 

This approach is fully in line with Europe's commitment to building efficient, traceable and truly circular local material loops .

Béthune: a pilot site at the heart of the transition

The Béthune (62) site is the first industrial application of Mecaware technology.

Thanks to the support of the Fonds de transition juste, the Hauts-de-France Region, which is responsible for the territorial implementation of the scheme, and the Béthune-Bruay Agglomeration, Mecaware is developing a pre-industrial pilot designed to valorize both :

- production waste from gigafactories,

- and end-of-life batteries,

to inject battery-grade metals back into the value chain.

This approach illustrates a new way of industrializing the energy transition :

- waste-free, especially sulfate-free,

- acid-free,

- and with strong local roots .

"What we're building in Béthune is a brick of European sovereignty," said Lisa Grasser.

A concrete example of just transition

The Just Transition Fund aims to support regions most dependent on carbon-based industries in their conversion to more sustainable activities.

Although financed by the European Union, this program is deployed and managed by the Regions, which define their investment priorities and select projects with a strong territorial impact.  

In the case of the Hauts-de-France region, the Nord and Pas-de-Calais departments benefit from the scheme in their entirety. By supporting Mecaware's development, they contribute directly to :

- the creation of skilled jobs in the Hauts-de-France region,

- diversification of the local industrial fabric,

- and reducing Europe's strategic dependence on metals.

The Brussels event underlined Mecaware's growing recognition as a key player in Europe's industrial transition.

Relive Lisa Grasser's speech

Video

Further information

- Find out more about the Just Transition Fund: https://commission.europa.eu/just-transition-fund

- The SEPAR8 project: https://www.mecaware.com/projects/procede-separ8

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