To mark the upcoming International e-Waste Day, consumers worldwide have been urged to collect dead and/or unused electronics and give them a second life by reusing or recycling them properly.
The Global E-waste Monitor 2024, authored by UNITAR in cooperation with ITU, reported almost a quarter of end-of-life unused electronics end up thrown away, squandering billions worth of copper, gold and other precious metals, materials critical to the production of such products, along with valuable plastics, and glass.
The 14 million tonnes of e-waste (dead or unused products with a battery or plug) discarded with ordinary household waste equals the weight of ~24,000 of the world’s heaviest passenger aircraft – enough to form an unbroken queue of giant planes from London to Helsinki, NY to Miami, Cairo to Tripoli, or Bangkok to Calcutta.
Pascal Leroy, Director General of the Brussels-based Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Forum, explained: “ “Small electronic and electrical goods such as mobile phones, toys, remote controls, game consoles, headphones, lamps, screens and monitors, heating and cooling equipment, and chargers are everywhere.
“Electronic components embedded in consumer products large and small – even clothing – are now omnipresent. The 844 million e-cigarettes thrown away in 2022 alone contained enough lithium, for example, to power 15,000 electric cars.”
Why people hoard unused electronics
Globally, there are 108 mobile phone subscriptions per 100 people.
Earlier surveys have shown that European households alone store about 700 million unused or non-functioning mobile phones – an average of more than two per household.
Undertaken by WEEE Forum members – not-for-profit entities that collect e-waste from households and businesses on behalf of manufacturers, and consolidated by UNITAR’s Sustainable Cycles (SCYCLE) Programme, the survey showed the average European household contains 74 e-products, such as phones, tablets, laptops, electric tools, hair dryers, toasters and other appliances (excluding lamps).
A 2022 survey helped explain why so many EU households and businesses fail to bring unused electronics in for repair or recycling.
These include:
- Might use it again in the future (46%)
- Plan to sell/give it away (15%)
- Has sentimental value (13%)
- Might have value in the future (9%)
- Don’t know how to dispose of it (7%)
International E-waste Day: Motivating us to recycle
This year, the WEEE Forum invited all organisations involved in effective and responsible e-waste management to plan awareness-raising activities for 14 October.
These range from social media, TV and radio campaigns to city or school e-waste collections or even artistic performances.
This year’s edition runs under the slogan ‘Join the e-waste hunt—retrieve, recycle, and revive!’.
It focuses on the unused electronics that people store in their homes without realising that they contain valuable materials that could be given new life.
It aims to inspire people to declutter their homes of unused or broken devices. By doing so, everyone can contribute to pollution reduction, resource conservation, and energy and CO2 savings.
