EPSE Green Zone is a pioneering concept that transforms industrial side streams such as mine tailings, slags, and wastewater into valuable raw materials. Built on EPSE’s cleantech solutions, Green Zones enable the recovery of Critical Raw Materials (CRM), including Rare Earth Elements (REE), while achieving zero discharge and significant emission reductions.
Positive impacts
Green Zone not only minimizes environmental impact but also turns waste into value, supporting circular economy principles and the global green transition. The positive impacts include:
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Environmental: Reduced pollution and increased resource efficiency
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Economic: New investments, CRM-based revenue, and sustainable ROI
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Social: Job creation, gender equality, and responsible resource ownership
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Technological: Modernization through innovation and knowledge transfer
- Strategic: Alignment with national climate and sustainability goals
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Political: Fostering global partnerships, bringing self-sufficiency to the production of critical raw materials.
Local positive impacts of the Green Zone program. The impacts of the Green Zone program can also be examined through the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
How to get started?
From Pre-Feasibility to Feasibility
Our structured approach from the first idea to an operational Green Zone minimizes investment risk, accelerates decision-making, and ensures that each Green Zone project can proceed with full stakeholder alignment. The process begins with a pre-feasibility study, where potential sites are identified and evaluated based on industrial activity, infrastructure, and waste material potential. Initial sampling and laboratory testing help assess the commercial viability of critical and rare earth metal recovery. During this phase, discussions with landowners, authorities, and potential local partners are facilitated to ensure the concept fits within regional environmental and regulatory frameworks.
Once promising sites and partners are confirmed, the project advances to the feasibility stage. This includes detailed technical and economic assessments, environmental and social impact analyses, and the establishment of a clear joint venture framework defining ownership, governance, and financing. The feasibility study ensures that every Green Zone is not only technically sound and environmentally responsible but also financially sustainable and socially beneficial. Our goal is to get the process up and running within two years of the initial assessment, because the need for critical raw materials is now, not decades from now.
Benefits of our approach
Our Green Zone implementation model offers several strategic advantages:
- Early insight into the technical and commercial potential of industrial side streams, reducing uncertainty before major investments are made
- Promoting cooperation between governments, local industries, and international investors, fostering trust and shared ownership
- Strengthening local economies, supporting climate goals, and contributing to global resource self-sufficiency
Ready to explore the Green Zone potential in your region? Contact our team to begin the process.
Critical raw materials (CRMs)
Critical raw materials (CRMs) are raw materials that are economically and strategically very important, but whose availability is subject to significant risks. Typical examples include lithium, cobalt, nickel, rare earth metals, graphite, gallium, and germanium. The EU’s list of critical raw materials can be found here.
Why are critical raw materials important?
Electric cars, batteries, wind power, solar panels, and hydrogen technologies require large amounts of these raw materials. The green transition and energy revolution are driving demand ever higher, and it has grown faster than production. On the other hand, the digitalization and technologization of societies are also increasing demand: semiconductors, electronics, defense, and space technologies are dependent on rare and special metals. Furthermore, the production and processing of critical raw materials is often concentrated in a few countries (e.g. China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Russia), which exposes supply chains to political, economic, and security risks. The EU, the United States, and other industrialized countries are seeking to reduce their dependence on external suppliers and secure the availability of critical raw materials for their own industries.
On the other hand, regulation and responsibility requirements also affect the availability of critical raw materials, as environmental, human rights, and ESG requirements make production more difficult, even though they are a step in the right direction, emphasizing the importance of transparent and sustainable supply chains.
The figure above shows the EPSE periodic table, which includes not only metals that can be removed from water using our water treatment technology, but also metals that can be recovered and recycled in Green Zone projects. In addition, the picture flags all the elements that have been found to be recyclable in Green Zone projects to date and are included in the EU’s list of critical raw materials.