THE United States and China contributed most to record mountains of electronic waste such as mobile phones, laptops, TVs and fridges in 2014 and less than a sixth ended up recycled worldwide, a study has found.
Overall, 41.8 million tonnes of “e-waste” – any device with an electric cord or battery – were dumped worldwide in 2014 and only an estimated 6.5 million tonnes were taken for recycling, the survey by the United Nations University said.
The report estimated that the discarded materials, including gold, silver, iron and copper, was worth about $52 billion. Researchers said the gold alone was valued at $11.2bn.
David Malone, UN under-secretary-general and rector of UNU, said: “Worldwide, e-waste constitutes a valuable ‘urban mine’, a large potential reservoir of recyclable materials.”
The US led e-waste dumping with 7.1 million tonnes in 2014, ahead of China on six million tonnes, followed by Japan, Germany and India. Norway led per capita waste generation, with 62lbs dumped per person, followed by Switzerland, Iceland, Denmark and Britain. On that ranking, the US was ninth and China was not among the top 40.
The US reported collection of one million tonnes for 2012, while China said it collected 1.3 million tonnes in 2013.
Global volumes of e-waste are likely to rise by more than 20 per cent to 50 million tonnes in 2018, driven by rising sales and shorter lifespans of electronic equipment.
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