Welcome to Salzburg - the hometown of Amadeus Mozart and "Red Bull"

In the name of the Steering Committee I welcome you to Salzburg for the 9th International Electronics Recycling Congress.

What is common between "Mozart", "Red Bull" and "Electronics Recycling"? All of them were pioneering leaders with strong will to achieve success, sustain the environment and to make people happy - regardless of the difficulties and pain of the first steps of the projects.

In Salzburg, many of the pioneers of "Electronics Recycling" meet at IERC2010. Only the joint effort among producers, recyclers, authorities and consumers are going to make success happen. The recycling industry created thousands of jobs, invested billions into machineries and plants and brought back millions of tons of raw materials into the recycling chain.

Europe is still the world's leading market in the field of electronics recycling. The eco design of the products, the very effective collection systems in the countries, strict laws and regulations and high tech recycling plants are the basis of the successful business over here in Europe.

Meanwhile the electronics recycling business went global. It is crystal clear that the same story will happen on the other continents. It is important to learn from the others in order to improve our own businesses and to create a positive environmental impact.

"Landfilling is history, recycling is the solution - you can make it happen!"

I look forward to meeting you in beautiful Salzburg - a town full of pioneers and success stories.


Dr Viktor Haefeli
Chairman of the Steering Committee
International Electronics Recycling Congress