Consolidating sustained and sustainable growth
Víctor Martínez – Operations Manager
“Although it has been a very complex year due to the difficulties caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, we can celebrate having reached a new all-time high in 2020 in the amounts of waste electric and electronic equipment financed and managed by Ecotic”
The 2020 financial year was conditioned by the profound impact that the Covid-19 health crisis had on the entire recycling sector. The abrupt interruption of business of electric appliance distributors and the widespread closure of the recycling centres, the main collection channels for waste of electric and electronic equipment (WEEE), made it impossible to maintain our level of logistical activity during the spring.
However, after the restart of activity we recorded a rapid recovery in collection levels, which allowed us to close the year reaching a new all-time high with 114,800 tons of WEEE financed and managed through our Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO), and consolidate a 2.8% growth .
The high degree of loyalty of our more than 750 members has allowed us to maintain a stable market share of 36.2%. The ability of the entire Ecotic team to fully adapt to remote-working methods implemented, allowed us to continue to offer the highest quality service required by the companies and organisations that entrust the management of their WEEE to us.
In the most difficult year we have faced, we are very grateful to the distributors, transporters, waste operators and other valuable stakeholders, for their enormous efforts which have helped secure the growth of Ecotic and, therefore, that of the electronic recycling sector in our country.
Household and Professional Flows
WEEE coming from households grew by 1.6%, reaching 104,025 tons, once again exceeding the symbolic figure of 100,000 tons for the second consecutive year. Another time, retail was the main collection channel with 68%, while the remaining 32% came from municipal recycling centres.
Evolution of WEEE managed
Household (tonnes)
Over the course of the year we made efforts to gradually increase the amounts allocated to preparation for reuse, which has been favoured by the introduction of specific targets since the Royal Decree 110/2015 came into force, specifically 3% for fraction 4 (large household appliances) and 4% for fraction 6 (small computer and telecommunications equipment).
In the case of fraction 6, we managed to allocate 9.89% of the waste to preparation for re-use, thereby more than doubling the target, although in fraction 4 the figure was below target. It is also worth to highlight that 2.32% of waste from fraction 1 (temperature exchange equipment) was allocated for this purpose, a category for which no specific targets are set, illustrating our will and effort to progress in this direction.
When it comes to professional WEEE, the upward trend recorded in recent years continued: it grew by 15.6% up to 10,775 tons.
Evolution of WEEE managed
Professional (tonnes)
In this sector, the Royal Decree 110/2015 only set a 3% target for preparation for reuse in fraction 4, corresponding to large household appliances, a target that we have practically achieved by allocating 2.92% of this type of waste to this purpose.
Household WEEE 2020
104.025 tonnes
+1,6%
Professional WEEE 2020
10.775 tonnes
+15,6%
Collection points network
9.900 points
Total WEEE accumulated since 2005
946.659 tonnes
Achievement of targets
The level of achievement of targets by category was slightly lower than that recorded in 2019, 73% in household WEEE and 57% in professional WEEE.
Target compliance – Household
(tonnes)
Target compliance – Professional
(tonnes)
The evolution of the achievement of targets for the collection of household WEEE stood at 6.11 kilograms / inhabitant / year, a figure similar to that recorded in the previous year.
Household target compliance evolution
kg./inhabitant/year
(*) Figure calculated based on the kilograms of WEEE managed by Ecotic over the corresponding total inhabitants of Spain according to the market share of the different years.
A consolidated model serving the environment
Beyond the results of the 2020 financial year, this 15th anniversary gives us the opportunity to take stock of the significant development our organisation has experienced, with a sustained growth year after year that has consolidated us as a front-runner in the electronic recycling sector both in our country and at European level.
Since we started operating in 2005, at Ecotic we have financed and managed through our Producer Responsibility Organisation an accumulated total of 903,723 tons of household WEEE.
Cumulative total of WEEE managed
Household market (tons)
It is also worth highlighting that over the last ten years we have managed to recover nearly
12,000 tons of WEEE which has been allocated to preparation for re-use processes, which are fundamental to the consolidation of a circular economy model and which we anticipate will trend upwards over the next few years.
Achieving this growth has been possible thanks to the great efforts we have made in the continuous improvement of our work processes and systems, always aimed at achieving maximum operational efficiency and offering the best service to our members.
Our forecasts indicate that, in parallel to our 15th birthday, we will very soon transcend the barrier of one million tons of WEEE managed. Another milestone we hope to be able to celebrate very soon and that will inspire us to see that Ecotic continues to be a reference model in the defence of the environment and development of a circular economy that guarantees a sustainable future.