The United States and China
contributed most to record mountains of electronic waste such as
cellphones, hair dryers and fridges in 2014 and less than a sixth ended
up recycled worldwide, a U.N. study said on Sunday.
Overall, 41.8 million tonnes of "e-waste" -- defined as any device with an electric cord or battery -- were dumped around the globe in 2014 and only an estimated 6.5 million tonnes were taken for recycling, the United Nations University (UNU) said.
"Worldwide, e-waste constitutes a
valuable 'urban mine', a large potential reservoir of recyclable
materials," said David Malone, the U.N. under-secretary-general and
rector of UNU.
The report estimated that the discarded materials, including gold, silver, iron and copper, was worth some $52 billion.
The United States led e-waste dumping
with 7.1 million tonnes in 2014, ahead of China on 6.0 million and
followed by Japan, Germany and India, it said.
The United States, where individual
states run e-waste laws, reported collection of 1 million tonnes for
2012 while China said it collected 1.3 million tonnes of equipment such
as TVs, refrigerators and laptops in 2013.
Norway led per capita waste generation,
with 28 kg (62 lbs) dumped per inhabitant, followed by Switzerland,
Iceland, Denmark and Britain. On that ranking, the United States was
ninth and China was not among a list of the top 40.
Researchers said that in many case it
made economic sense to recover metals that included 16.5 million tonnes
of iron, 1.9 million tonnes of copper as well as 300 tonnes of gold.
The gold alone was valued at $11.2
billion, with the precious metal used in devices because it is a good,
non-corrosive conductor of electricity.
"At the same time, the hazardous content
of e-waste constitute a 'toxic mine' that must be managed with extreme
care," said Malone, referring to components such as lead and mercury
which are found on some discarded devices.
Global volumes of e-waste were likely to
rise by more than 20 percent to 50 million tonnes in 2018, driven by
rising sales and shorter lifetimes of electronic equipment, the report
said.
Ruediger Kuehr, one of the authors of
the report, said many people were aware of the global problem of waste
but often left ageing toys or cellphones in drawers or cellars at home.
"People don't see it as an issue in their own households," he said.
Source: Reuters