The positive trend in volumes was accompanied by a revision of our recycling contracts. All have now been rewritten, compensation models have been adjusted and the requirements for our partner companies have been updated. Our aim in all of this is to create the right conditions to ensure reliable collaboration in the years to come.
The revision of the Environmental Protection Act and the new enforcement guidelines from the Federal Office for the Environment have also led to changes at the federal level. For the first time, the state of the art in the disposal of waste electrical and electronic equipment has been comprehensively defined. For Swico and SENS, this is confirmation of our many years of hard work. Many of the standards in force today are based on processes and concepts that we developed together with the Technical Commission and have successfully put into practice.
Legal requirements have changed, as has the market itself. The circular economy is becoming increasingly important, which we recognised and reacted to at an early stage. Over the course of various projects, we expanded our database, collected new key figures and identified specific fields of action. We now have a better understanding of how many old devices can be immediately reused, which ones are worth repairing, which can be used to provide spare parts and which are too damaged or low-quality to be of further use.
We are fortunate in that regard to operate within a dynamic regulatory framework that continually offers us new opportunities for further development. Our ambition remains unchanged: to ensure quality, drive innovation and act responsibly. This report provides insight into our work and shows where we are heading. We would like to thank all our partners for their trust, and we hope you find the report inspiring.