how much e waste is produced each year

Of the 80,000 or so tonnes of e-waste we produce each year, the best estimates suggest we recycle less . The recommendations and analytical framework under the Road Ahead encouragethe consideration of multiple environmental benefits when developing materials management strategies. To put things in perspective, this means that the equivalent of a rubbish truck full of clothes ends up on landfill sites every second. The generation rate in 1960 was just 2.68 pounds per person per day. The rate of yard trimmings composting was negligible in 1980, rose to 12 percent in 1990 and 52 percent in 2000. In short, it's a lot. About the UN E-Waste Coalition This makes it the worlds fastest growing domestic waste stream, fuelled mainly by more people buying electronic products with shorter life cycles and fewer options for repair. This trash ends up in landfills, is burned in incinerators, or finds its way into our environment, where it litters our parks and beaches, pollutes our oceans, and can harm the wildlife that come into contact with it. With more than 12 million tons per year the equivalent of 30,000 jumbo jets Europe ranks second only behind Asia in terms of e-waste, according. Over this period, China imported between 7 and 9 million tonnes of plastic waste per year. Electronic waste is an under-reported yet still very significant global issue. Because with each passing year, were also throwing more and more of these devices away and upgrading to whatever newer, lighter, slimmer iteration of them has just appeared on the market. Be mindful of what you buy, how you use it, and how you dispose of it when its finally at the end of its lifespan. Studies show that staying optimistic about aging can be as beneficial to your health as exercising or eating well. Just how bad it gets depends on how quickly we act. 57.4 Mt (Million Metric Tonnes) of e-waste was generated in 2021. Available data on water-related ecosystems doubles, improving countries ability to track SDGs, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Download the A New Circular Vision for Global Electronics report here, Dark skies, bright future: overcoming Nigerias e-waste epidemic, Turning e-waste into gold: the untapped potential of African landfills, Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) on Plastic Pollution. E-waste is the one problem that we can do something about without relying on corporations or governments. This is why e-waste must be recycled separately. The total generation of MSW in 2018 was 292.4 million tons, which was approximately 23.7 million tons more than the amount generated in 2017. "}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Which Country is Best in E-waste Recycling? Clicking on the following button will update the content below. 28 pounds of aluminum beer and soda cans. Today, we collectively emit around 50 billion tonnes of CO 2 e each year. liability for the information given being complete or correct. Within that 82 percent, the experts say, was 55 tons of mercury that have either already been released into the environment or will be eventually. Electronic waste - commonly referred to as e-waste - is discarded electronic devices with a battery or plug that are no longer wanted, not functional, or obsolete. ","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"We estimate that at least 347 Mt of e-waste remains on the planet. In 2019, 53.6 million tonnes of E-waste was produced. Mercury is used in computer monitors and fluorescent lighting, but exposure to it can cause brain damage. Around the world, as incomes rise and prices fall, the yearly e-waste mountain is growing, reaching 44.7 million metric tonnes (Mt) in 2016, according to the latest data available, released Wednesday. For more information on total waste generation and management in Australia refer to the National Waste Report, produced by DAWE. The Nigerian Government, the Global Environment Facility and UN Environment have announced a $15-million initiative to kick off a circular e-waste system in Nigeria. Based on cellular data, there are, The United Nations estimates that global e-waste volumes could increase by as much as 39% to, Many major retailers will accept e-waste for recycling, regardless of whether you purchased the product from the retailer or not. The amount of MSW combusted with energy recovery increased from zero in 1960 to 14 percent in 1990.

E-waste management market value worldwide 2020-2028, Global electronic waste management market value in 2020 and 2028 (in billion U.S. dollars), E-waste management market size worldwide 2021-2029, Global electronic waste management market size in 2021 and 2029 (in million tons), E-waste management market size in Asia-Pacific region 2020-2021, Asia-Pacific electronic waste management market size in 2020 and 2021 (in million tons), Global electronics recycling market size 2022-2027, Size of the global electronics recycling market from 2022 to 2027 (in billion U.S. dollars), Outlook on global e-waste generation 2019-2030, Projected electronic waste generation worldwide from 2019 to 2030 (in million metric tons)*, Global e-waste generation per capita outlook 2019-2030, Projected electronic waste generation worldwide per capita from 2019 to 2030 (in kilograms per capita)*. With lack of ease and possible fees to recycle e-waste, it seems like an uphill battle to tackle this growing waste problem that comes with toxic materials that are thought to be detrimental to human health upon exposure. How Much Waste Is Produced Each Year When it comes to food waste per capita, things look different as the average annual household food waste in India is around 50 kg. Currently, EPA has a tool for estimating greenhouse gas reductions resulting from sustainable materials management the Waste Reduction Model (WARM). Together, almost 94 million tons of MSW were recycled and composted, equivalent to a 32.1 percent recyclingand composting rate. 15 . Of the MSW generated, approximately 69 million tons were recycled and 25 million tons were composted. The 2018 recycling rate was 32.1 percent. Please be respectful of copyright. What is considered e-waste? The recycling rate grew more slowly over the last few years. Check out our Reduce, Reuse, Recycle web area for more information on recycling. The e-waste produced annually is worth over $62.5 billion, more than the GDP of most countries. Enormous Viking ship holds surprising clues on burial rituals. This e-waste mountain is expected to grow another 17 percent by 2021 to 52.2 million metric tonnes.

Priority Area 1: Enhance Interagency Coordination Priority Area 2: Increase Consumer Education and Outreach Efforts Priority Area 3: Improve Coordination and Guidance on Food Loss and Waste. What happened to all those big, old tube TVs that were replaced by flat screens? The total generation of municipal solid waste (MSW) in 2018 was 292.4 million tons (U.S. short tons, unless specified) or 4.9 pounds per person per day. Discarded e-waste isnt just an environmental problem, its also an economic opportunity. The world produces as much as 50 million tonnes of electronic and electrical waste (e-waste) a year, weighing more than all of the commercial airliners ever made. 14. The requirements of certification stipulate that no hazardous, illegal e-waste will be exported to developing nations, be disposed into landfills, or recycled using forced or child labor.. In new research, we found that Europe has the highest collection and recycling rate, covering about 42.5% of the total e-waste generated in 2019. Paper and paperboard products made up the largest percentage of all the materials in MSW, at 23.1 percent of total generation. Of the estimated 67 million tonnes of waste Australians generated in 2017, just 37 was recycled, leaving 21.7 disposed of in landfill. EPA refers to trash, or MSW, as various items consumers throw away after they are used. One ton of circuit boards is estimated to contain. The waste is far more than previous reports . That's more than 10kg for every single person, every single week. Thirdly, dont be so hasty in discarding old technology. The top 10 e-waste recycling countries are ranked by the percentage of their waste that is formally collected for proper recycling, while the total amount recycled (in KiloTons) is also shown for reference. *MSW generation rose considerably from 2017 to 2018 mainly because EPA enhanced its food measurement methodology to more fully account for all the ways wasted food is managed throughout the food system. It also contributes directly to global warming. According to the EPA, the average person creates 4.4 pounds of solid waste each day. Consumers are only interested in price and performance. These 2 Great Brands Are 17 Most Worrying Textile Waste Statistics & Facts. Which leads us to yet another way in which our current consumption and disposal habits jeopardize public health.

Your body clock holds the answer. Out of all toxic waste produced in the world, 70% of it comes from e-waste. Electronics have a big eco footprint, meaning their manufacture consumes a lot of energy and water, along with valuable and sometimes scarce resources, making recycling and recovery a key way to reduce impact on the planet. This reduction is equivalent to removing over 33 million cars from the road for one year. Every year, as of 2017, New Zealand generates approximately 99,000 tonnes (20.1 kg per capita) of electronic waste, of which 97,000 tonnes is disposed of in landfills. Though they only account for 16 percent of the world's population, high-income countries generate about 34 percent, or 683 million tonnes, of the world's waste. The Agency uses this information to measure the success of materials management programs across the country and to characterize the national waste stream. Generation of other material categories fluctuates from year to year, but overall MSW generation increased from 1960 to 2005, with the trend reversing from 2005 to 2010, and rising again from 2010 through 2018. The e-waste produced annually is worth over $62.5 billion, more than the GDP of most countries. When measured per capita, Europeans (16.2 Kg) produce the most e-waste per person, followed by Oceania (16.1 Kg) and the Americas (13.3 Kg). So whats to be done?

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However, recycling e-waste isnt always easy, Kuehr told National Geographic. The following provides a detailed breakdown of the numbers: Listed here are the recycling or composting rates for three categories of materials, including paper and paperboard, yard trimmings, and food: EPAs report Sustainable Materials Management: The Road Ahead serves as the foundation for the EPA SMM Program. Every electronic device manufactured has its own carbon footprint. Landfilling of waste has decreased from 94 percent of the amount generated in 1960 to 50 percent of the amount generated in 2018.

If nothing changes, that number is supposed to hit 74 million tonnes (approximately 81.6 million tons) by 2030, meaning that e-waste is growing by about three to four percent every year. This means that easily recyclable parts might be recycled, but it will usually be done poorly. From mobile phones that just happen to die right when your contract is over to televisions that become obsolete as soon as a larger, thinner version debuts. When e-waste materials are not recycled, new raw materials are required to create new EEE. This is equivalent in weight to all the commercial aircraft ever built. Estonia, Norway, and Iceland have the best electronic waste recycling rates in terms of the percentage of waste that each country produces, according to the latest available data. If the trend continues, the number of fast fashion waste is expected to soar up to 134 million tonnes a year by the end of . About 17.7 million tons of food were managed by other methods. The total generation of municipal solid waste (MSW) in 2018 was 292.4 million tons (U.S. short tons, unless specified) or 4.9 pounds per person per day.

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We will keep you informed with the latest alerts and progress reports. For more information on food management, check out Food: Material-Specific Data. ","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"

Your children, and theirs, will thank you for it. Electronic waste, or e-waste, is the fastest-growing source of waste globally.

4.7 Mt of Small IT & Telecoms Equipment - including cell phones, phone cases, wireless routers, GPS and pocket calculators

Want more e-waste information? Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Technology carries severe environmental consequences when we dont recycle e-waste responsibly. In 2018, 34.6 million tons of MSW were combusted with energy recovery. Official websites use .gov E-waste accounts for about 70% of toxic waste. In 2018, the rate of food and other MSW organics composting was 4.1 percent (2.6 million tons). E-waste is unique among the many rivulets making up our larger waste stream. A lock (LockA locked padlock) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. At 59 Million Tons, Our E-Waste Problem Is Getting Out of Control, If You Care about Climate Change, Then You Care about the Farm Bill, secretly sending their electronics overseas. Paper and paperboard recycling, at about 46 million tons, resulted in the largest portion of the total MSW reduction over 155 MMTCO2E in 2018. Governments worldwide are enacting new laws to better manage e-waste. Are you a lark or an owl? The total MSW composted was 25 million tons. So lets all do our bit. The increase from 2017 to 2018 is mainly the result of EPA's inclusion of additional wasted food management pathways. Due to a change in methodology, there was an increase in the wasted food generation estimate between 2017 and 2018, which results in a lower composting rate even though the tons composted remained the same from 2017 to 2018.

17.4 Mt of Small Equipment - including microwaves, vacuum cleaners, fans, kettles, toasters, shavers, hairdryers, radios, tools and toys

Given that only 61 countries had undertaken such legislation as of 2014, the goal seems plausible, if ambitious. She lives in San Antonio, Texas and has been interested in the environment from an early age. An estimated 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted globally each year, one third of all food produced for human consumption. UK households and businesses produce 1.45 million tonnes of electrical waste each year, research shows. EPA developed the non-hazardous materials and waste management hierarchy in recognition that no single waste management approach is suitable for managing all materials and waste streams in all circumstances. A giant mass of seaweed threatens beach season in the U.S. An unprecedented mission for 500 baby sharks, Arctic ice is getting thinner and sea life is suffering, Migration and movement in the Anthropocene, Nature is out of syncand reshaping everything, everywhere, The truth behind 5 St. Patricks Day symbols, The Ides of Marcha day of murder that forever changed history, While Napoleon conquered nations, his sister conquered hearts, Meet the women who risked everything to be the first to fly, These pirates went eastand stole the biggest booty ever. It is hard to imagine even 50 million tonnes, yet this is equivalent in weight to all the commercial aircraft we have ever built throughout history, or 4,500 Eiffel Towers, enough to . While the public are asking for healthier, chemical-free foods, few are looking for healthy electronics. It is estimated that the 53.6 Mt of e-waste generated in 2019 contained raw materials worth around $57 billion. Imagine a 176-pound (80 kilogram) pile of discarded products with a battery or plug in your living room. An official website of the United States government. As of the end of 2019, 78 countries, covering 71% of the worlds population, either had a policy for managing e-waste or were putting regulation in place an increase of 5% from 2017. It is estimated that 8% of e-waste is discarded in the trash, and subsequently goes to landfill or gets incinerated. 0.42 pounds per person per day for composting. Best of Earth911 Podcast: Biodel Ag CEO Ben Cloud on Accelerating Soil Restoration With Sequester, Solar Panel Recycling in the US: a Looming E-waste Concern, Tips for Recycling Computers, Phones, & Other E-waste Successfully. The rate of food composting was 2.2 percent in the year 2000 (.7 million tons). (See photos of workers in India mining toxic e-waste.).

Old electronics are burned in an open air pit in Accra, Ghana, in order to more easily extract the valuable copper wires.

The following surprising facts about e-waste may help to spur action both to protect the environment and to stop wasting resources that amount to quite a lot of cash being tossed in landfills each year. NRDC works to safeguard the earthits people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends. [2] 1. A s a tech-hungry nation flush with cash gets ready to upgrade to the next generation of lightning-fast 5G devices, there is a surprising environmental cost to be reckoned with: a fresh mountain of. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. What is piand why is there an entire day devoted to it? 69 million tons of MSW were recycled in 2018, a 2.2 percent increase from the 67.6 million tons recycled in 2015.

That needs to change, said Gray. Around the world, as incomes rise and prices fall, the yearly e-waste mountain is growing, reaching. A rapidly warming planet poses an existential threat to all life on earth. It feels as if electronics were made to be thrown out every year, right? There is over 347 Mt of unrecycled e-waste on earth in 2023. Geneva Environment Network | United Nations University | World Economic Forum | Allied Market Research | ERI Direct, {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How much E-Waste is Produced Each Year? According to the UN, more than third of all food produced worldwide goes to waste each year.That is over 1,300,000 million kilograms of food being wasted.

0.9 Mt of lamps, bulbs and LEDs

While every generation of electronics gets a little more efficient, we should make our phones, tablets, TVs, and computers last as long as possible to reduce the amount of e-waste sent to landfills and most of our electronics still go unrecycled. [An Expert Guide], The e-waste recycling market was valued at $. This number is expected to increase with greater spending power and new technologies constantly replacing old ones. Get in touch with us. We know that since data was first collected in 2014, up until the end of 2022 there will have been an estimated total of 420.3 Million Metric Tonnes of e-waste produced. Generation rose from 268.7 million tons to 292.4 million tons in 2018, mainly as a result of EPA's inclusion of additional food management pathways. No steps will be taken to remove toxic elements, and many more valuable reusable components might be missed. Worldwide, waste generated per person per day averages 0.74 kilogram but ranges widely, from 0.11 to 4.54 kilograms. Watch this clever heron throw shadeliterally, Video Story, Migration and movement in the Anthropocene, Video Story, Copyright 1996-2015 National Geographic Society, Copyright 2015-2023 National Geographic Partners, LLC.

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","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"China (10129 Kt), the US (6918 Kt), and India (3230 Kt) produce the most electronic waste. Over time, any greenhouse gases contained within the e-waste will slowly be released into the atmosphere. Secure .gov websites use HTTPS "}},{"@type":"Question","name":"How Much E-waste is on Earth? The UN E-waste coalition is a group of seven UN agencies who have come together to increase collaboration, build partnerships and more efficiently provide support to Member States to address the e-waste challenge. Taken together, 2019s discarded electronics weighed as much as 350 Queen Mary 2 ocean liners. Venus is volcanically alive, stunning new find shows. According to Allen, if the recycling rates for gold (15%), silver (15%), and platinum (5%) all increased to 100%, the electronics sector could realize $12 billion in financial and natural capital benefits. In 2018, the amount of MSW generated was 292.4 million tons. Selected consumer electronics include products such as TVs, VCRs, DVD players, video cameras, stereo systems, telephones and computer equipment. The biggest waste producers worldwide: Sensonseo Global Waste Index 2019 In September 2018, the World Bank announced that our global waste production is predicted to rise by 70 per cent by 2050 unless we take urgent action. Paper and paperboard products have ranged between 28.4 and 23.1 percent of generation since 2010. The Monitor is a collaborative effort of the United Nations University (UNU), the International Telecommunication Union, and the International Solid Waste Association. The world discarded 53.6 million tons of e-waste in 2019. The Global E-waste Monitor 2020 report found that the world dumped a record 53.6 million tonnes of e-waste last year equivalent to the weight of 350 cruise ships the size of the Queen.

These calculations do not include an additional 24.9 million tons of MSW that could not be addressed in the WARM model (including 17.7 million tons from food waste managed by means outside of the scope of the WARM model). More than 100,000 tonnes of solar panel waste are forecast to enter Australia's waste stream by 2035