Shocking forecast against electro-waste

According to a recent UN report, 53.6 million tons of electronic waste were discarded last year. Over ten years, this figure could rise as high as 74.7 million tons. This forecast cannot be optimistic.

The future of e-waste stands

The third edition of the Global E-Waste Monitor report, published in July 2020, shows that the number of e-waste devices has increased by 21 percent in five years. This may be surprising to some, but to others it is completely normal, given how many people are interested in new technologies and regularly update their devices. The forecast projected for the next 10 years is not optimistic. It is likely that we will see a 39% growth in this area. This means that the electro-waste branch will turn out to be the fraction generating the most garbage.

Since 2014, the number of countries that have introduced policies related to electro-waste has increased from 61 to 78. However, only approx. 17% of this type of waste is recycled. This is more significant when we pay attention to the fact that valuable metals are present in them – copper, iron, gold, silver and platinum, among others. In the recorded volume for last year, e-waste could be worth as much as $57 billion. The vast majority of them will not be recovered and will go to incineration.

Who throws away the most?

China, with 10.1 million tons, was the largest supplier of e-waste, while the United States came in second with 6.9 million tons. In third place was India with 3.2 million tons. Together, these three countries accounted for nearly 38 percent of the world’s electronic waste last year.

However, if we count the amount of discarded waste per person, the picture is quite different. Of the 53.6 million tons of electro-waste mentioned at the outset, 7.3 kilograms per person on Earth.

In the ranking of countries whose one citizen throws away the most electronic equipment, Northern European countries ranked first, with 22.4 kg of electronic waste per Scandinavian. Australians and New Zealanders throw away an average of 21, 3 kg, 0.4 kg more than Americans and Canadians. In contrast, there are only 5.6 kilograms per Asian, and 2.5 kilograms of electro-waste per African.

What’s in store for us?

The rapidly growing number of e-waste seems unstoppable. New technologies are developing faster and faster, and companies and individuals want to use the best equipment. The most important thing in this regard, therefore, seems to be a system for efficiently processing electro-waste on the largest possible scale. Synchronization of governmental and civic actions can help deal with the problem to the extent that technologies can develop without adversely affecting our ecosystem.

Source: ekologia.pl