Global countries are facing multiple challenges concerning resource depletion, waste accumulation, and environmental degradation. The circular economy offers a fundamental way to respond to these multiple challenges. Recycling technologies have emerged as a cornerstone of the transition toward a circular economy. This session aims to explore the latest breakthroughs in recycling technologies, highlighting not only emerging technological innovations but also the methodologies used to assess their environmental, economic, and systemic performance. Topics will span a wide range of material/waste recycling, including municipal solid waste, industrial solid waste, plastic waste, end-of-life batteries, emerging solid waste photovoltaic panels and wind turbines, etc. The session will examine both the technological frontier and the multi-dimensional assessment frameworks that determine real-world viability.

Key areas of focus include, but are not limited to, the following:
-Mechanical recycling innovations: AI-powered sorting, advanced separation, and polymer compatibilization;
-Chemical recycling technologies: depolymerization, pyrolysis, solvolysis, and conversion processes;
-Emerging methods: bio-based recycling, dissolution technologies, and hybrid approaches;
-Life Cycle Assessment (LCA): environmental footprint across energy, emissions, and water;
-Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA): cost structures, scalability, and market competitiveness;
-Material quality evaluation: purity standards, performance retention, and secondary material applications;
-Circularity metrics: indicators for loop-closing and primary resource displacement;
-Industrial symbiosis: integrating recycling into broader material ecosystems;
-Policy and market dimensions: EPR schemes, quality standards, and recycled content demand.

This session, "Circular Economy and Policy Innovations towards Improved Resource Recovery," invites contributions that advance understanding of policy-driven strategies to enhance resource efficiency and material recovery. We welcome abstracts addressing topics such as innovative regulatory frameworks, economic instruments and incentives for circularity, design for recycling and extended product lifecycles, waste valorization technologies, industrial symbiosis, and metrics for assessing resource recovery performance. This session seeks interdisciplinary research that combines environmental science, industrial ecology, and policy analysis to provide evidence-based insights on implementing circular economy principles. Both case studies and empirical or modeling studies demonstrating effective pathways for closing material loops and promoting sustainable resource management are encouraged.

Section S4 of the IOCRe Conference 2026 covers all aspects of Metal, Battery, and E-Waste Reuse and Recycling, but the conference is not limited to battery and electronic waste. Submissions focusing on other metal-containing residues, such as solar panels, wind turbines, and automotive and industrial catalysts, are also welcome.

Participants are encouraged to present innovations that enhance the efficiency of every stage of the recycling chain (collection, pre-processing–including separation and sorting–and processing). Specifically, improvements in collection and pre-processing for improving efficiency and selective sorting, such as robotic dismantling, advanced sensing, and safe discharge, are incentivized.

In this section, we strongly acknowledge contributions related to processing innovations for transforming metal waste into valuable raw materials. Works that envision circular recycling processes aiming to close the loop on resources are particularly welcome.

The session is open to contributions related to the reuse and recycling of all materials in construction, including (but not limited to) research, practice, policies, regulatory frameworks, and case studies on the mechanical, structural, and durability properties of recycled and recovered materials in new construction; novel sorting/separation technologies and processes for challenging waste streams; Design for Deconstruction (DfD) methods, tools, and case studies; the application of BIM, AI/ML, and IoT for efficient waste quantification/classification, material tracking and automated sorting; collection, transport, and inventory management systems for materials; the implementation and impact of systems for tracking material composition and value throughout a building's lifecycle; circular economy policy and governance, including regulatory instruments and incentives; economic/financial viability through cost–benefit analysis, market barriers, and successful business models; LCA/LCCA studies quantifying the environmental benefits of recycling; strategies to promote the acceptance and use of recycled materials in construction, etc.