Paris
Humans discarded more than 50 million tonnes of electronic waste last year — an increase of 20 percent in just five years — making tech refuse the world’s fastest growing waste problem, the United Nations said Thursday.
In its annual report on e-waste — tossed away smartphones, computers, white goods and electronic car parts — the UN said that materials worth more than $55 billion (50 billion Euros) were being wasted every year.
In 2019, only 17 percent of the year’s 53 million tonnes of e-waste was recycled, with the rest ending up in scrapheaps or landfill. With its unreclaimed deposits of gold, silver, copper and platinum as well as highly-prized rare Earth metals, non-recycled e-waste means more must be mined to equip consumers with new products.
The report’s authors blamed ever-shorter device lifespans and a lack of recycling infrastructure for the ballooning e-waste problem.
“E-waste quantities are rising three times faster than the world’s population and 13 percent faster than the world’s GDP during the last five years,” said Antonis Mavropoulos, president of the International Solid Waste Association.—APP
