The amount of global electrical and electronic waste reached record levels in 2014, according to a new United Nations University report. The biggest per-capita contributors are countries that regard themselves as environmentally conscious.
End-of-life electronic, electrical equipment totalled 41.8 million metric tonnes in 2014, with discarded kitchen, laundry and bathroom equipment comprising over half of that amount. Mobile phones, personal computers, printers, and other small IT equipment made up only 7 per cent. 41.8 million metric tonnes is the equivalent of 1.15 million heavy trucks forming a line 23,000 kilometres long, or the distance from New York to Tokyo and back.
These are some of the findings of the Global E-Waste Monitor 2014, compiled by the United Nations University (UNU), the UN’s think tank. The report offers in unprecedented detail a wealth of insights into the location and composition of the world’s fast-growing e-waste problem.
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 are Norway (28.4 kilograms per inhabitant), Switzerland (26.3 kg per capital), Iceland (25.1 kg), Denmark (24.0) and Britain (23.5 kg). The Netherlands, Sweden, France, the US and Austria rounded off the top ten.
The escalating global e-waste problem is driven by the rising sales and shortening life cycles of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE — essentially, any device with a battery or an electric cord), explains the UNU. And the volume of e-waste is expected to rise by 21 per cent to 50 million metric tonnes in 2018.
Less than one-sixth of last year’s e-waste is thought to have been diverted to proper recycling and reuse. Toxins in the e-waste are associated with health problems such as impaired mental development, cancer and damage to liver and kidneys.
Photo credit: Curtis Palmer, flickr/Creative Commons
