Waste management and recycling services are expected to generate revenues of around €170bn per year worldwide in 2025, according to a new Environmental Technology Atlas released in Berlin last week. The fourth edition of the annual report prepared for the German Federal Ministry for the Environment put the volume of the market in 2013 at €102bn. It predicts that until 2025, revenue in the sector will increase annually by over 4 per cent.
The report drafted by the Roland Berger consultancy includes waste collection, transport, sorting and landfilling as well as material recycling and energy recovery in its definition of the "circular economy sector". Within the industry, the study's authors anticipate the greatest growth to occur in the material recycling market segment, which could see an increase in annual revenue from €11bn to €42bn between 2013 and 2025. The lion's share of revenues will still be generated through collection, transport and sorting activities, according to the Atlas. In these market areas, the report predicts an average growth rate of around 3 per cent per year which would bring revenue to €97bn in 2025.
