WEEE market to grow by third
The global waste electronic recycling market is expected to grow by a third to around $1.9bn (£1.2bn) by 2017, according to a new report.
Consultants Frost & Sullivan said the waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) sector was now “rising from its own ashes” after experiencing a slump as a result of global economic woes.
The report estimated the market was worth more than $1.4bn in 2011 and that it will grow by 4% a year over the next five years, thanks in part to governmental initiatives such as the WEEE EU Directives.
EU member countries are required to recover 45 tonnes of e-waste for every 100 tonnes of electrical goods sold by 2016. The report also pointed to strong growth expected in North America.
But it warned that growth was threatened by “weak implementation of legislation”.
A Frost & Sullivan spokesman said: “One of the main reasons that the WEEE Directive has not met with unqualified success despite the significant amount of support it has received is the ineffective implementation of legislation.
“Some of the key countries such as the UK, for instance, have had significant problems in its implementation in the first place due to the difficulty in assigning ‘producer responsibility’ as stipulated by the legislation.”
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