A market study released by ABI Research, Oyster Bay, N.Y., called “e-Waste Recovery and Recycling” forecasts that the worldwide market for electronic scrap recovery will grow from $5.7 billion last year to nearly $14.7 billion by the end of 2014, representing a compounded annual growth rate of 20.8 percent over the forecast period. This figure represents money generated through reclamation of materials from electronic scrap.
According to the report, spurs to growth include rising electronic scrap collection and recycling rates; the growth in innovative and cost-effective recycling technologies; the strengthening recycling infrastructure and legal framework worldwide; global electronics markets and their growth in developing economies, and the integration of formal and informal recycling markets in Asian locations.
“The economic downturn of recent years shook the global waste management industry to its core. Plummeting commodity prices shriveled demand for recycled materials and transformed recycling from an honorable, profitable venture to a cash-hemorrhaging dilemma for a multitude of municipalities and companies,” says Larry Fisher, director of the report.
However, he believes that, “The combined impact of the ongoing global economic recovery and strengthening e-waste recycling legislation worldwide will drive improved recycling/recovery rates in each of the next five years.” Although the legal framework for e-waste recycling remains strongest in Europe under the region's stringent WEEE directive, efforts made on behalf of non-profit groups such as the Basel Action Network and e-Stewards Initiative are driving improvements in many other regions of the world, especially the US.
This study is published under the Energy and Green Technology Research Service which is a part of NextGen, the ABI Research emerging technologies research incubator.