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e-waste recycling sees high demand in Europe

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Soma Tah
New Update

LONDON, UK: New analysis from Frost & Sullivan finds that the European e-waste recycling market earned revenues of $1.30 billion in 2012 and estimates this to reach $1.79 billion in 2020.

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Electrical and electronic equipment account for the fastest growing volume of waste generated. Consequently, managing this waste has become imperative to limit hazardous elements and to decrease illegal dumping and export to cheaper countries.

The increasing volume of waste electrical and electronics equipment (WEEE) coupled with scarcity of precious metals, high cost of mining, and limited landfill capacity have lent momentum to the European WEEE recycling market.

The need to recycle e-waste has prompted waste management companies to optimise collection systems as well as recovery and recycling technologies, further aiding market development in the region.

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However, national WEEE recycling legislations are not properly aligned with these EU standards and the ensuing variances in interpretation affect enforcement and curb market growth.

Lack of efficiency in the collection of WEEE material from source, slow execution of environmentally-sound recycling processes, and most importantly, difficulties in meeting final recycler needs add to the challenge.

"The market will continue to grow as governments, especially in Scandinavia, Alpine States and Germany, create transparent legal frameworks for WEEE recycling development and commercialisation," said Frost & Sullivan Energy and Environmental Research Analyst Monika Chrusciak.

Germany, France, Italy and Central and Eastern Europe, in particular, offer immense opportunities.

The ultimate objective of WEEE processing and recycling operators is to apply processes that recover resource materials in a cost effective manner and lowers environmental impact. This will highlight the legal responsibility of electric and electronic equipment producers and distributors towards the entire life cycle of the manufactured product.

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