Electronics Waste

Why humanity needs to stop producing an exponentially growing amount of e-waste.

• Every year, the amount of electronic waste produced by humans is rapidly growing, with waste from discarded electrical products amounting to an estimated 57.4 million tonnes in 2021 alone.
• By far the biggest contributors to mountains of e-waste we produce are household appliances such as irons, vacuum cleaners, washing machines and fridges.
• Consumer behaviour, driven by marketing events such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday for instance, shortens the lifespan of electrical items and replaces functional goods with newer versions.
• Cut-price sales deals pushed by retailers on a range of goods from mobile phones to laptops and smart speakers in particular result in unsustainable amounts of waste each year.
• Campaigners particularly bemoan the export of Western e-waste to African countries such as Rwanda and Ghana, with Agbogbloshie having become famous for being the world’s largest e-waste dumpsite.
• Recycling practices vary a lot among EU countries: In 2017, Croatia for instance recycled 81% of all electronic and electrical waste, while in Malta, the figure was 21%.
• With more than 12 million tons of e-waste per year - the equivalent of 30,000 jumbo jets - Europe ranks second only behind Asia in terms of e-waste production.
• Thanks to the “right to repair” movement and legislative progress in the EU, from 2021 firms will have to supply spare parts for machines for up to 10 years and make appliances longer-lasting.
• Through such measures, the European Commission estimates, up to 167 terawatt hours of energy could be saved annually by 2030 - approximately the annual energy consumption of Denmark.