Electronics reprocessors in the UK admit that they are suffering from a shortage of inputs.
Speaking to Let's Recycle, industry figures attributed the shortage to a fall in consumer goods replacement during the recession.
In addition, consumers may be using alternative channels for recycling such as services such as Freecycle, reducing the amount of waste available to reprocessors.
The website has calculated that the total increase in tonnage of recyclable goods collected under the waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) directive only increased by 4.3 per cent in the period between October 2009 and September 2010.
This marks an increase from 456,218 tonnes to 463,706 tonnes of waste.
John Vivani, of Viridor, said that the waste management giant is using the quiet period to increase the the operational efficiency of facilities and improve the quality of recyclables produced by the WEEE treatment process.
It is thought that one factor in the overcapacity could be that WEEE compliance schemes are only compelled to collect a certain amount of waste from homes.