Recycling industries in the Netherlands, 1995-2001

Recycling companies produce secondary raw materials from waste and residue. Profitability has stabilised in recent years, whereas returns have more than doubled since 1995.

		1995	1998	1999	2000	2001
Number of companies		114	151	148	161	146
Employees		1 616	2 682	2 994	2 779	2 822
		EUR million
Investments		25	55	58	58	54
Revenue		326	516	654	749	827
among which	from collection of waste and residues	67	152	162	153	193
	from the sale of reused waste products	234	332	445	546	572
Result before tax		15	10	13	32	41
		%
Profitability1)		5	2	2	5	5
Source: CBS (2003).		CBS/EDC/May03/0396
1) Result before tax as a percentage of revenue.

Definition of 'recycling industries'

Recycling companies produce secondary raw materials from waste and residue. Their activities include shredding vehicles, demolition, and grinding waste rubber and plastics. The sale of the recoverable resources generates approximately two-thirds of the total revenue within the sector. The balance of the proceeds comes mainly from payments made by parties disposing of waste and residue.
Specialised activities in the area of the collection, processing, trading and preparation for reuse of waste (including mixed waste), have been included in three places in the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) of Statistics Netherlands:

• recycling industries (SIC-code 37);
• wholesale trade in waste and scrap (SIC-code 5157);
• environmental services (SIC-code 9000).

To distinguish it clearly from the other two groups, the environmental services sector is defined as follows: the prevention, limitation or restoration of environmental damage by companies that are neither the agent nor the victim of the damage/potential damage. The limitation of damage to the environment as a side-effect of the reclamation of valuable materials or energy is excluded.
In practice, private environmental services companies concentrate primarily on the collection and treatment of waste that, as a whole, has virtually no scrap value.

References

• CBS (2003). Statline. Productiestatistieken milieudienstverlening en voorbereiding tot recycling. Statistics Netherlands, Voorburg/Heerlen.

Relevant sections and indicators in the Environmental Data Compendium

• Size of environmental services sector in the Netherlands, 1995-2001
• Waste generation and method of processing, 1985-2001
• Waste generation and processing by target sector in the Netherlands, 1990-2001*
• Dutch environmental costs by theme, 1985-2002
• Rates for some environmental levies, green taxes and disposal charges in the Netherlands, 1990-2003*
• Revenue from disposal charges in the Netherlands, 1995-2002

Relevant information outside of the Environmental Data Compendium

• More data about the recycling industries can be found on Statline (Statistics Netherlands).