EBMI 2026 runs June 17–18 at Halle 3.0, Messe Frankfurt, pulling four co-located shows under a single roof: the E-Waste World Expo, Battery Recycling Expo, Metal Recycling Expo, and the ITAD & Circular Electronics Expo. Organized by Trans-World Events, the gathering positions itself as the largest circular-economy event of the year, with one access pass covering all four floors and conference tracks.
The structural change this edition is price. For the first time since the event launched, the entire conference programme is free to attend, alongside the exhibition floor. That decision reshapes the audience. Organizers expect more than 4,500 international professionals against 400-plus exhibitors and over 180 speakers, with confirmed names from the European Commission, Siemens, BMW Group, Logitech, and Umicore. Four stages sit at the corners of the hall, one per material stream, putting policy and processing in the same sightline as the vendors selling the equipment.
The agenda reads as a supply-chain argument rather than a recycling showcase. Sessions span silicon recovery from end-of-life solar PV, revisions to the WEEE Directive, AI and robotics in e-waste sorting, Africa’s emerging electronics-processing ecosystem, and the mechanics of securing EU funding for industrial-scale circular projects. The framing is deliberate: critical raw materials are now a security question, and material recovery is where that question gets answered downstream of the device cycle.
Seats are first-come, first-served despite the open door, which tells you the organizers expect demand to outrun the room. For anyone tracking battery, ITAD, or metals recovery as an investable theme rather than a compliance cost, Frankfurt is the floor where the circular economy stops being a slogan and starts being a balance sheet.