Arisings remain tight on the German market for the management of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). As competition for the remaining volumes is intensifying, recycling plant operators have been barely able to pass the significantly increased treatment costs. Revenues from the sale of the recycled material streams are also still at a relatively sufficient level, say market participants. On the whole, the conditions for the individual collection categories were barely changed compared with January.
Arisings of WEEE from household collections remain weak. Recyclers say that volumes of small appliances (collection category 5) and monitor equipment (collection category 2), in particular, have dropped off considerably. Category 5 volumes in some regions are said to be more than 30 per cent below normal levels. Similarly large declines were reported in some cases for category 2 equipment, particularly due to the growing share of lightweight flat-screen monitors in the collection stream. Yet, a few market participants said they were seeing the slight seasonal improvement in arisings that was typical for the period after Easter....
