In 2014, people worldwide discarded 41.8 million metric tonnes (megatonnes – Mt) of electrical and electronic products, compared to 39.8 million metric tonnes in 2013, according to a report compiled by the United Nations University (UNU). And the volume of e-waste is expected to rise by 21% to 50 million Mt in 2018.
Just 7% of e-waste last year was made up of mobile phones, calculators, personal computers, printers, and small information technology equipment.
Almost 60% was a mix of large and small equipment used in homes and businesses, consisting of:
- 12.8 Mt of small equipment (vacuum cleaners, microwaves, toasters, electric shavers, video cameras, etc.);
- 11.8 Mt of large equipment (washing machines, clothes dryers, dishwashers, electric stoves, photovoltaic panels, etc.);
- 7.0 Mt of cooling and freezing equipment (temperature exchange equipment);
- 6.3 Mt of screens;
- 3.0 Mt of small IT (mobile phones, pocket calculators, personal computers, printers, etc.); and
- 1.0 Mt of lamps
The 41.8 Mt weight of last year’s e-waste is comparable to that of 1.15 million 40-ton 18-wheel trucks — enough to form a line of trucks 23,000 kilometres long, or the distance from New York to Tokyo and back.
Less than one-sixth of last year’s e-waste is thought to have been diverted to proper recycling and reuse.
The e-waste generated in 2014 contained an estimated 16,500 kilotons of iron, 1,900 kilotons of copper, 300 tonnes of gold (equal to 11% of the world’s total 2013 gold production), as well as silver, aluminum, palladium plastic and other resources with a combined estimated value of US$52 billion (48 billion Euro).
Toxins in that e-waste, meanwhile, include 2.2 Mt of lead glass — more than six times the weight of the Empire State Building — 0.3 Mt of batteries, as well as mercury, cadmium, chromium and 4,400 tonnes of ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbon (CFCs). Health problems associated with such toxins include impaired mental development, cancer, and damage to liver and kidneys.
And while the US and China produce the most e-waste overall (32% of the world’s total), the top per capita producers by far are the wealthy nations of northern and western Europe, the top five being Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, Denmark, and the UK.
Selected highlights:
- In 2014, approximately 4 billion people were covered by national e-waste legislation (though not all laws cover the full range of e-waste and are not all enforced);
- Around 6.5 Mt of e-waste was reported as formally treated by national take-back systems;
- Most world e-waste in 2014 was generated in Asia: 16 Mt (3.7 kg per inhabitant);
- The highest per inhabitant e-waste quantity (15.6 kg/inh.) was generated in Europe; the region (including Russia) generated 11.6 Mt;
- The lowest quantity of e-waste was generated in Oceania (0.6 Mt), however, per inhabitant the e-waste generated was nearly as high as Europe’s (15.2 kg/inh.);
- The lowest amount of e-waste per inhabitant was generated in Africa (1.7 kg/inh). The continent generated 1.9 Mt of e-waste in total;
- The Americas generated 11.7 Mt of e-waste (7.9 Mt in North America, 1.1 Mt in Central America, 2.7 Mt in South America), or an average of 12.2 kg/inh;