Although it may seem like a cliché, this year once again I would like to start the presentation of this annual report by saying thank you to the entire ECOTIC team on behalf of the Board of Trustees, for their commitment, their professionalism and the good results achieved.

In the four years that I have held the position of president, we have overcome all manner of upheavals – a pandemic, legislative changes, organisational changes, among others – and we have done so with talent, efficiency and effectiveness. As a result, ECOTIC continues to be a benchmark system in the management of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) both nationally and internationally.

Far from leading us into complacency, this encourages us to look for ways to improve in all aspects of our management and, above all, adopt new strategies that allow us to raise awareness among the population, stimulating habits of reuse and recycling as basic tools for moving towards a true circular economy.

This internal analysis is already starting to bear fruit and, as I have commented on occasion, the basis for facing the new challenges is, to a large extent, innovation. Such innovation often has nothing to do with major technological challenges, but rather with changes in habits, with new styles of management and with leaving the comfort zone behind. This is what has handed us the leadership position we have held for years now.

A good example of innovation is the way in which we must collaborate with our competitors in order to work together with mutual loyalty to build a much more sustainable and worthy world for future generations.

It is with this mindset that we have been able to promote and co-lead with all of them and with the CEOE Foundation, SEUR Foundation, producers, waste managers and non-profit organisations, the Sustainable Digitisation programme, which has made it possible to reduce the digital divide among the most vulnerable groups in society. A triple satisfaction because, beyond reusing and recycling computer equipment, we have been able to benefit those who most need it, and what is more: we have done it together!

Innovating also means looking for ways to improve management, and we have been working on this area for some time and the recently created ECOTIC Entidad Administradora is now a reality that allows us to view the future with a broader outlook and a greater capacity for growth. This new non-profit company has already encouraged us to set up the new Fundación ECOTIC CLIMA that will allow us to separate and differentiate, in the immediate future and in a more efficient manner, the collection and management of waste produced by air conditioning equipment.

In the legislative field, the actions we take will be decisive in achieving the ambitious goals we have set ourselves, ensuring their rigorous implementation and, above all, the full cooperation of all the actors involved.

If legislative changes such as those in Royal Decree 993/2022 of 29 November on control measures for the import of electrical and electronic equipment, batteries and accumulators from third countries, which are being effectively implemented by the SOIVRE (Official Inspection, Surveillance and Customs Regulation Service), are implemented determinedly, we are likely to increase waste collection and management rates and make faster progress towards achieving the goal we all share: to build a more sustainable society.