Water treatment is usually viewed as a process focused on removing contaminants, but UK startup Metal Morph is looking at the same infrastructure from a different angle. The company believes wastewater treatment plants can become valuable sources of industrial materials, recovering chemicals that are currently discarded and putting them back into productive use. With fresh funding, Metal Morph is now working to turn that circular approach into commercially scalable infrastructure for the water sector and beyond.
Fresh Funding for Resource Recovery
Metal Morph has raised £700,000 in pre seed funding to advance its technology for recovering industrial resources from water and wastewater treatment processes.
The round was co led by Sustainable Ventures and Green Angel Ventures, with participation from Aqcelerator and Found Capital.
Founded in 2025, Metal Morph is developing an infrastructure as a service model that allows water and industrial facilities to recover valuable materials directly from wastewater streams.
The company’s initial focus is on aluminium and iron based chemicals used in water treatment. These materials can currently end up being discharged into sewers, transported to landfill or spread on land after use.
Turning Waste Into Reusable Chemicals
Metal Morph’s technology is designed to recover these spent treatment chemicals so they can be reused in water treatment processes.
The model creates a circular system in which materials are recovered from wastewater, processed and returned to the treatment cycle rather than being discarded and replaced with newly produced chemicals.
This could reduce dependence on primary supply chains while also lowering procurement costs and emissions associated with manufacturing and transporting replacement chemicals.
The company believes the approach could eventually extend beyond treatment chemicals to the recovery of standalone metals from industrial wastewater and mining tailings.
Early Results From Water Plants
Metal Morph has already tested its technology in operational environments.
The company has completed more than 50 live tests across three drinking water treatment plants. According to its results, the system has recovered as much as 90 per cent of spent treatment chemicals at up to 95 per cent purity.
The tests also indicated a potential 26 per cent reduction in coagulation related operating costs and an 89 per cent reduction in emissions associated with procuring coagulants.
These results are helping the company demonstrate the economic and environmental potential of recovering resources rather than continually purchasing new supplies.
Strong Utility Partnerships
Metal Morph is working with six UK water utilities that collectively represent 56 per cent of the UK water market.
The company has also secured £100,000 in grant funding from UK water regulator Ofwat. A further £450,000 is available subject to the company meeting agreed milestones.
These relationships provide opportunities for Metal Morph to test its technology across different water treatment environments and gather further evidence before wider commercial deployment.
The company is also beginning to explore international opportunities, with potential demonstrations under consideration in Estonia and discussions taking place with Belgian water utility Aquafin.
Building a Circular Water Supply Chain
Metal Morph’s broader ambition is to transform water infrastructure from a largely linear system into a source of reusable resources.
The company argues that water treatment plants represent an overlooked industrial supply chain because they already process enormous volumes of material every day. Recovering useful chemicals from those flows could create new sources of supply while reducing waste and environmental impact.
For water utilities, the economic case could become increasingly important as chemical procurement costs, supply chain risks and pressure to reduce emissions continue to rise.
Scaling the Technology
The new funding will support further development of Metal Morph’s resource recovery technology, the rollout of additional industry pilots and continued validation with water utilities and industrial partners.
The company will also use the funding to investigate opportunities outside the UK and assess how its technology could be adapted for other industrial applications.
By combining resource recovery with existing water treatment infrastructure, Metal Morph is aiming to create a new circular model in which wastewater is not simply something to be treated and discarded, but a potential source of materials that can be recovered, reused and returned to the industrial supply chain.
