Global electronic waste at 42 million tonnes

A study into the world’s electronic waste, was carried out by researchers from UN University, details how much e-waste different regions discard.

Old microwaves, washing machines, dishwashers and other household items made up the bulk of the waste, with only 16% of the items discarded finding their way into proper recycling and re-use schemes.

The report found that the US was the nation that disposed of most electronic waste with a whopping 7,072 kilotonnes generated in 2014. China was second  with 6,032 kilotonnes and Japan ranked third with its 2,200 kilotonnes.

However, European nations topped the rankings of regions measured by how much waste each citizen generated. The report showed for instance, that in Norway, each inhabitant did away with about 28.4kg of electronic waste whereas across Africa levels of e-waste generated per inhabitant were lower at 1.7kg per person.

The report said rising levels of discarded electronic equipment were being driven by the growing popularity of domestic electronics and because many modern devices did not last as long as older versions of the same products.

UN under-secretary-general David Malone, rector of the UN University, said that far more should be done to capture e-waste and "mine" the valuable resources used to make such equipment.

"Worldwide, e-waste constitutes a valuable 'urban mine' - a large potential reservoir of recyclable materials," he added explaining that buried within the 41.8 million tonnes of waste was more than 16,000 kilotonnes of iron, 1,900 kilotonnes of copper and 300 tonnes of gold as well as other precious metals such as palladium. The report went on to estimate that the combined value of all these valuable resources was of about $52bn (£35bn).

In addition, said Malone, the massive amount of waste represented a potential toxic stockpile as many of the devices used materials, such as lead, that were hazardous which needed to be disposed of carefully.