Tech watch: These are the latest circular innovations

From the newsletter

In the past three months, several innovations have emerged that could benefit Africa’s circular economy. Circular Rising highlights three that stand out for their potential impact.They include two road construction technologies that could foster circular building practices and a battery recycling solution with the potential to help manage waste from the continent’s growing EV sector.

• Two of the technologies were developed by German companies, while the third comes from an Indian developer.

• Although created abroad, these innovations could enhance circularity in Africa if they are deployed on the continent.

More details

• In South Africa, an ongoing road construction project on a 68 km section in Mpumalanga province, a key trade artery linking Gauteng province to the Port of Maputo in Mozambique, is pioneering the use of Wirtgen’s Cold In-Place Recycling (CIR) train. Developed by the German construction company Wirtgen Group, the technology comprises six machines,  a W 380 CR cold recycler, a VÖGELE SUPER 1900-5X paver, two 12-tonne Hamm tandem rollers, and two 24-tonne Hamm pneumatic rollers. This setup enables the system to mill, mix, and re-lay existing asphalt in a single pass using foamed bitumen as a binder, significantly reducing the need for new materials and landfill disposal.

• The deployment of this recycling train marks the first of its kind in Africa, showcasing how circular construction technologies can enhance efficiency, sustainability, and safety in road rehabilitation. The reuse of existing materials, which Jaco Markam, Contract Engineer at KBK Engineers, the project engineers, describes as “the next big thing” in road rehabilitation, helps promote circularity in construction by reducing landfill waste and lowering carbon emissions.

• The train is especially suited for high-traffic roads that require renovation while remaining accessible, as it minimizes disruption to vehicles.  “The ‘stop-and-go’ traffic control system associated with conventional road rehabilitation techniques generally halves the normal capacity of the road for long periods, causing severe backups and bottlenecks. By milling, mixing and paving in one pass, the cold in-place recycling system allows the road to be reopened almost immediately, thus reducing traffic congestion and delays,” says Wimpie Janse van Rensburg, Executive Manager: Engineering and Technical at TRAC, a concession that manages one of the most important highways in South Africa.

• Still on circular construction, India has become the first country to commercially produce bio-bitumen for road construction. A joint development by CSIR‑Central Road Research Institute and CSIR‑Indian Institute of Petroleum in January 2026 introduced bio-bitumen made from agricultural residues such as paddy straw. The pyrolysis-based process converts biomass into bio-oil, which is then blended with conventional bitumen to produce more sustainable asphalt. Unlike conventional asphalt, which relies primarily on petroleum-based bitumen and is carbon-intensive, bio-bitumen transforms agricultural waste into a usable construction material, reducing reliance on fossil fuels and lowering carbon emissions.

• For Africa, a continent grappling with massive volumes of organic waste while simultaneously seeking sustainable construction solutions to reduce its carbon footprint, bio-bitumen offers a compelling model. By converting agricultural residues such as crop stalks and husks into a usable construction material, this technology could help manage organic waste, lower dependence on petroleum-based bitumen, and enable greener road infrastructure. Its adoption could be particularly relevant in agriculturally intensive countries such as Nigeria, Egypt, and Ethiopia, where both waste management and infrastructure development are priorities, providing a circular solution that addresses environmental and resource challenges simultaneously.

• Meanwhile, in December 2025, German-based BMW Group launched its Cell Recycling Competence Center (CRCC) in Bavaria, introducing Direct Battery Recycling technology. Developed in partnership with Encory GmbH, this approach departs from conventional battery recycling, which relies on energy-intensive chemical or thermal treatments. Instead, materials are mechanically dismantled and returned directly to the battery cell production cycle, reducing both costs and resource use. Residual materials,  including complete cells, are fed back into production without being fully broken down to their original constituents. As operations scale, the recovered materials will be reused in pilot battery-cell production at BMW’s Cell Manufacturing Competence Center (CMCC) in Parsdorf, Munich.

• BMW’s Direct Battery Recycling Technology could offer a valuable model for Africa’s emerging EV and battery sectors. Although adoption remains at an early stage, key markets, South Africa, Kenya, Morocco, and Egypt, are increasingly investing in electric vehicles and battery-based mobility solutions. Solutions such as BMW’s could provide cost-effective, energy-efficient ways to recover materials and establish local or regional circular battery value chains.

Our take

• Although these technologies have been proven abroad, they will require local technical expertise in Africa to operate and maintain effectively. Thus, there is a need for training and knowledge transfer alongside technology deployment.

• Securing the innovations will also require significant capital investment, hence the need to mobilise funding.