Posted on Jul 2, 2020 at 4:00 p.m.
The number is colossal and will become astronomical. Last year, 53.6 million tonnes of waste from electronic chips, computer cards, electrical resistors, lamps and other flat screens were generated worldwide. That’s 21% more than five years ago, reports the Global Observatory for Electronic Waste .
And things are not going to end there. According to this organization dependent on the United Nations University, it will be on more than 74 million tonnes of waste that we will have to count in 2030, i.e. almost twice as much as in 2015.
This lightning progression is without equivalent compared to that of the other families of waste (furniture, packaging, health waste, etc.) note the experts mobilized by the UN. The mastery of all this material will become very worrying, if it is not already the case. Last year, only 17.4% of these waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) have been collected and recycled.
57 billion impairment losses
This is a huge mess. The precious or rare metals they contain (platinum, gold, silver, copper, etc.) and which have been written off, represent a total value of $ 57 billion, estimates the Observatory’s report. .
Not all countries bear the same responsibility in the face of this situation. Asia alone generated nearly half (24.9 million tonnes) of the world’s “e-waste” last year. The United States and Europe are far behind with a “production” of 13.1 and 12 million tonnes respectively. It should be noted that Africa, with 2.9 million tonnes, is not the last and is ahead of Oceania (700,000 tonnes).
This waste has something to weigh more heavily on the conscience of Europeans. Each inhabitant of the Old Continent alone generated 16.2 kg. Those from Oceania, with 16.1 kg per head, do little better. While Asians and Africans are still quite frugal with 5.6 and 2.5 kg.
Most of this waste (17 million tonnes) comes from small equipment: fans, microwaves, radios and other video cameras. A “segment” whose volumes have increased by 4% since 2014. This is followed by major equipment (washing machines, photocopiers, photovoltaic panels, etc.) whose “residues” increased by 5% over the same period.
States out of legislation
But the largest increase came from refrigeration and air conditioning equipment. The volume of their waste, estimated at 10.8 million tonnes, has increased by 7% in six years. On the contrary, those of TV screens and computer monitors decreased (-1%) and now occupy a fairly low share with 6.7 million tonnes. A decline linked to the obsolescence of this equipment in favor of digital technologies and their support. However, waste from smartphones and the like is still growing slowly (+ 2%) and still only weighs 4.7 million tonnes.
If a lot of this waste goes into the wild, it is because a majority of countries still do not have legislation and regulations aimed at ensuring its recovery and recycling. Since 2014, the number of States “equipped” to do so has increased from 61 to 78. We are far from the ambitions set by the major organizations, in particular the International Telecommunications Union, which has proposed to reach the rate of 50 % of countries with laws and regulations to contain the proliferation of “e-waste”.
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