Obsolete electronics pile up as e-waste outstrips recycling efforts, UN warns

UN agencies have warned that waste from electronics is piling up worldwide while global recycling rates remain low and are likely to fall even further.

An employee selects parts of discarded computers in the recycling department of Itautec SA, in Jundiai, Brazil. © Reuters/Paulo Whitaker

In a report released this week, the United Nations International Telecommunications Union and research arm UNITAR said some 56 million tonnes of “e-waste” was generated in 2022 – enough to fill tractor-trailers that could be lined up bumper to bumper around the globe.

That amount is on track to reach more than 70 million tonnes by 2030.

E-waste is defined as discarded devices with a plug or battery such as mobile phones, electronic toys, TVs, microwave ovens, e-cigarettes, laptop computers and solar panels.

It does not include waste from electronic vehicles, which fall into a separate category.

According to the report, metals – including copper, gold and iron – make up half of the 60 million tonnes, worth a total of over €80 billion.

Plastics accounted for over 15 million tonnes and the remaining 12 million tonnes included substances such as composite materials and glass.

Did you know?

➡️ A record 62 million tonnes of #eWaste produced
➡️ Only 22% was recycled
➡️ US$ 62 billion worth of recoverable natural resources unaccounted for
➡️ Projected to rise to 82 million tonnes in 2030

Read the Global E-waste Monitor 2024: https://t.co/5IXj0GLWps pic.twitter.com/zgfXqwT0Iv

— UNITAR (@UNITAR) March 20, 2024

Chasing 'hazardous elements'

The United Nations says 22 percent of e-waste mass was properly collected and recycled in 2022.

However, that figure is expected to fall to 20 percent by the end of the decade because of "staggering growth" of such waste due to higher consumption, limited repair options, shorter product lifecycles, the growing "electronification" of society, and inadequate e-waste management infrastructure.

It says some of the discarded electronic devices contained hazardous elements such as mercury, as well as rare metals coveted by tech industry manufacturers.

• Negotiating an end to plastic pollution, with global treaty

Only 1 percent of the demand for the 17 minerals that make up the rare metals is met through recycling.

To date, about half of all e-waste is generated in Asia, where few countries have laws on recycling or collection targets.

Recycling and collection rates top 40 percent in Europe, where per-capita waste generation is highest at nearly 18 kilos. 

Scavenging for a living

In Africa, which generates the least of any of the five big global regions, recycling and collection rates hover at about 1 percent.

“The latest research shows that the global challenge posed by e-waste is only going to grow," said Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava, head of the ITU telecommunication development bureau.

"With less than half of the world implementing and enforcing approaches to manage the problem, this raises the alarm for sound regulations to boost collection and recycling."

For some, e-waste represents a way to earn cash by rummaging through trash in the developing world to find coveted commodities, despite the health risks.

• A day in the life of a worker at Dandora, Nairobi's main dumping ground

At the Dandora dumpsite where garbage collected from the Kenyan capital of Nairobi ends up – even though a court declared it full over a generation ago – scavengers try to earn a living by picking through rubbish for e-waste that can be sold to businesses as recycled material.

Steve Okoth hopes the flow continues so he can eke out an income, but he knows the risks.

"When the e-waste comes here, it contains some powder which affects my health," he said, adding that when electronic devices heat up, they release gases and he "can’t come to work because of chest problems."

However Okoth said they don't have any other options. "We are now used to the smoke because if you don’t go to work you will not eat."

The authors of the UN report have acknowledged that many people in the developing world pay their bills through harvesting such e-waste, and called for them to be trained and equipped to make such work safer.

"We must try to support these people trying to find their niche," said Ruediger Kuehr, senior manager of the sustainable cycles programme at UNITAR.