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Why e-waste education?
Understand the facts we are working to change.
The electronics sector creates significant CO2 emissions.
The electronics industry is estimated to have emitted 580 million metric tons of CO2 in 2020 — and is therewith amongst the top eight polluting sectors collectively responsible for more than half of the world’s carbon footprint.
Considerable amounts of greenhouse gas emissions from electronic devices could be mitigated, but this is not happening.
By increasing the lifespan of electronic devices by 50% to 100% — for example through repair, refurbishment, and reuse, it is possible to mitigate up to half of the total greenhouse gas emissions created by the electronics industry.
Many consumers fail to recognize e-waste.
31% of consumers dispose of e-waste in their regular garbage.
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— Statista, October 2021
Wrongfully disposed e-waste causes battery fires.
Around 8.2 million vapes are thrown away or recycled incorrectly every week in the UK. The batteries found inside these vapes can cause fires if they are damaged or crushed.
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— Material Focus
E-waste is growing fast.
"E-waste is the fastest growing domestic waste stream in the world."
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— UN Sustainable Cycles (SCYCLE) Programme
E-waste creates huge heaps of waste.
62 million tonnes of e-waste were generated in 2022. This is enough to fill 1.55 million 40-tonne trucks and encircle the equator once.
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— UN Global E-Waste Monitor 2024
E-waste production keeps on growing.
The annual production of e-waste is rising by 2.6 million tonnes annually.
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— UN Global E-Waste Monitor 2024​
E-waste will produce unreasonable amounts of future waste.
The production of e-waste is expected to rise by 32% from 2022 to 2030. This means that 82 million tonnes of e-waste will be produced in 2030.
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— UN Global E-Waste Monitor 2024​
Most countries have no e-waste regulations.
Only 42% of countries globally have e-waste policies, legislation, or regulations in place.
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— UN Global E-Waste Monitor 2024​
E-waste is often shipped abroad.
5.1 billion kg of e-waste were shipped across borders in 2022.
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— UN Global E-Waste Monitor 2024​
E-waste is trafficked to low-income countries.
Around 3.3 billion kg of e-waste "were shipped from high-income to middle- and low-income countries through uncontrolled and undocumented transboundary movements" in 2022. This was 65% of all the e-waste that was shipped across borders globally in 2022.
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— UN Global E-Waste Monitor 2024​
Europeans produce a lot of e-waste.
On average, Europeans produced 17.6kg of e-waste per capita in 2022.
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— UN Global E-Waste Monitor 2024
European e-waste damages the climate and environment.
A total of 13 billion kg of e-waste were produced in Europe in 2022. The production of this e-waste released 16.6 billion kg of CO2 equivalents and 6 million kg of mercury emissions into the environment.
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— UN Global E-Waste Monitor 2024
Most European e-waste is not recycled properly.
Of the e-waste produced in Europe in 2022, 5.6 billion kg or 42.8% were recorded as “properly collected and recycled”.
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— UN Global E-Waste Monitor 2024
Most e-waste globally is not recycled properly.
Less than a quarter (22.3%) of the e-waste produced in 2022 was properly collected and recycled.
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— UN Global E-Waste Monitor 2024
Recycling cannot keep up with e-waste.
The global generation of e-waste is increasing five times faster than the documented recycling of e-waste is.
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— UN Global E-Waste Monitor 2024
The global recycling rate for e-waste will drop in the future.
A drop in the documented collection and recycling of e-waste from 22.3% in 2022 to 20% by 2030 is expected.
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— UN Global E-Waste Monitor 2024​
Value is lost through e-waste.
Recoverable natural resources worth USD 62 billion were unaccounted for through improper e-waste recycling in 2022.
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— UN Global E-Waste Monitor 2024​
E-waste remains a largely untapped opportunity.
If countries were to increase their rates for e-waste collection and recycling to 60% by 2030, the benefits of this would surpass costs by over USD 38 billion.
— UN Global E-Waste Monitor 2024
There is growing e-waste from solar panels and important materials are being lost.
There may be 4 million tonnes of scrap solar panels globally by 2030 and over 200 million tonnes by 2050. The resources found in these are needed for e-mobility and renewable energy technologies. Yet, without a circular economy, these resources may be lost.
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— International Energy Agency​
E-waste is full of valuable metals.
The metals contained in the e-waste generated globally in 2022 were estimated to be worth USD 91 billion.
— UN Global E-Waste Monitor 2024
E-waste is a gold mine.
E-waste contains up gold up to 200g or more per ton, while gold ore only contains only 5–30g per ton. That means, that by weight, there is more gold in e-waste than in gold ore.
— Ahmad et al., 2024; Fang et al., 2023;
Pourhossein and Mousavi, 2022
Lots of EV batteries could be produced from waste vapes.
The lithium found inside vapes thrown away every year in the UK could power 10 127 electric vehicle batteries instead.
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— Material Focus
Rare earths are going to waste with e-waste.
Only 1% of the demand for rare earth elements is currently met through e-waste recycling.
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— UN Global E-Waste Monitor 2024