The business climate index within the area of thermal waste treatment has stabilised at a high level in 2017. That is the conclusion of the latest Waste-to-Energy (WtE) industry barometer.

The business climate index within the area of thermal waste treatment has stabilised at a high level in 2017. That is the conclusion of the latest Waste-to-Energy (WtE) industry barometer. The annual survey is conducted by consulting company ecoprog, with the assistance of the operators association CEWEP, and is available as a free download on CEWEPs website.

The business climate in the Waste-to-Energy (WtE) sector continues to be positive. Past years boom has consolidated for the plant operators, while the WtE industry shows a slight upward trend - after pessimism had increased recently.
The business climate amongst the WtE plant operators has deteriorated slightly over the past year, but still reaches a very high level.
The operators consider their current business situation to be a bit better than in the past. 79% of them report a comparatively high plant utilisation and, consequently, 74% assess their business situation as good. About a third of the operators even report their demand to have increased again in comparison to the previous year. Not a single WtE plant operator considers its current business situation as unsatisfactory.
Business expectations, however, have deteriorated over the previous year. While in 2016 about 40% of the operators expected their business to improve, only 22% did so in 2017. Nevertheless, overall expectations remain to be positive and only 2% of the operators expect their business to decline in the future.
The mood amongst plant manufacturers, engineering and industrial companies working in the thermal waste recovery sector has brightened. Contrary to 2016, most respondents assessed their current business situation to be positive (even though only by a slim majority). A relative and, again, slim majority also considers the current order backlog as satisfactory or even comparatively large. A third of the participating companies report their demand to have increased over the past 12 months.
The WtE industry barometer 2017 evaluates the current business climate within the WtE industry using a calculation methodology developed by the ifo institute. Additionally, questions regarding current developments were analysed. Therefore, the operators of thermal waste treatment plants were questioned with regard to the metal recovery from ashes and the consequences of the BREF revision. The technology providers were asked to give additional information regarding their perception of different market regions worldwide.
The WtE industry barometer is conducted by the Cologne-based consultancy ecoprog GmbH. The Confederation of European Waste-to-Energy Plants CEWEP supports the execution of the survey. A free download of the industry barometer is available on CEWEPs website (www.cewep.eu).