From old iPhones to discarded vapes, a shocking new report warns that our old technology is creating unmanageable amounts of electronic waste.
The UN report shows that the world created 62 million tonnes of electronic waste in 2022 – the equivalent of the weight of 6,000 Eiffel Towers.
Worryingly, the world’s waste is increasing by 2.6 million tons every year and could reach 82 million tons by 2030.
Furthermore, less than a quarter of that waste is recycled, despite containing billions of dollars of gold and rare minerals.
Kees Baldé, lead author of the report, said: ‘No more than 1% of the demand for essential rare earth elements is met by e-waste recycling. Simply put: Business as usual cannot continue.’
A shocking report shows that the world generated 62 million tons of electronic waste in 2022, including thousands of tons of abandoned solar panels. This image shows piles of waste waiting for recycling at a center in Germany
A third of the 62 million tons of electronic waste generated in 2022 was classified as ‘small appliances’, including everything from toys to microwaves
A third of the 62 million tons of electronic waste generated in 2022 was classified as “small appliances,” including everything from toys to microwave ovens.
Another 4.6 million tonnes comes from what the report calls ‘small IT and telecommunications equipment’.
This includes some of the most commonly used devices such as laptops, mobile phones, GPS devices and routers.
In the future, the researchers suggest that solar panels could become one of the largest contributors to e-waste.
In 2022, only 600,000 tons of solar panels ended up as e-waste, but by 2030 this could grow to 2.4 million tons.
Nikhil Seth, Executive Director of UNITAR (United Nations Institute for Training and Research), said: ‘Amid the hopeful embrace of solar panels and electronic equipment to combat the climate crisis and drive digital progress, the rise of e-waste requires urgent attention. ‘
European countries are the largest producers of electronic waste per capita, with an average of 17.6 kg per person per year.
This is followed by Oceania with 16.3 kg per person, America with 14.1 kg and Asia with 6.4 kg per person.
Europe and Oceania produce the most e-waste per person. However, they also have the most developed recycling infrastructure, meaning less of it ends up in landfill
Mobile phones and other telecommunications equipment represent 4.6 million tons of the world’s e-waste. This image shows phones collected for informal recycling in Ghana
However, it is not only important how much waste is generated, but also how much of it is recycled properly.
Overall, only 22.3 percent of the world’s electronic waste was documented as properly recycled in 2022.
Although European countries produce the most e-waste per capita, they also recycle the majority of that waste.
European countries recycled 7.53 kg of electronic waste per person, while countries in America recycled only 4.2 kg per person.
In Africa, meanwhile, it is formally documented that less than one percent of electronic waste is recycled.
The researchers estimate that 16 million tons of electronic waste is managed in a comprehensive informal recycling system.
However, these informal systems also pose a major risk to the health of workers and the local environment.
The report warns that pieces of electronic waste with a plug or a battery should be considered an environmental hazard.
These contain toxic chemicals such as mercury, which can lead to irreversible brain damage for those exposed to them.
E-waste like these discarded laptops in a German recycling center contained an estimated £90 billion (£71 billion) of metals in 2022
As this graph shows, e-waste production (in black) will continue to exceed recycling capacity (in green) in the future
But even with the help of informal recycling, the researchers predict that the share of electronic waste recycled annually will actually decline in the future.
The researchers suggest that by 2023, only 20 percent of electronic waste will be recycled as waste growth continues to outpace the world’s recycling efforts.
Cosmas Luckyson Zavazana, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau, said: ‘The latest research shows that the global challenge of e-waste will only increase.
‘With less than half the world implementing and enforcing an approach to control the problem, this sounds the alarm for good regulation to increase collection and recycling.’
E-waste contributes to a growing ecological problem because it pollutes the environment. Here, at a now-demolished scrap yard in Ghana, you can see the destruction of what were once thriving wetlands
This graph shows the economic value of the various minerals found in electronic waste in 2022. Copper, iron and gold were the most valuable minerals that could have been saved through recycling
Because electronic waste is growing faster than our recycling capacity, it not only creates an environmental hazard but also wastes billions of dollars in minerals.
The total e-waste generated in 2022 contained more than $90 billion (£71 billion) of metals, including $19 billion (£15 billion) of copper, $15 billion (£12 billion) of gold and $16 billion (£12, 6 billion) of iron.
The UN report estimates that $62 billion in recoverable natural resources will be lost in 2022 alone.
If countries could reduce their e-waste collection and recycling rates to just 60 percent by 2030, experts say the benefits would exceed the costs by $38 billion (£30 billion).
However, the researchers write that these efforts are hampered by limited repair options, shorter product life cycles and poor management infrastructure.