E-waste is the fastest growing waste stream on the planet, so how can we recycle better?
Electronic and electrical waste, or e-waste is a global crisis
According to UNITAR, a record 62 million tonnes of e-waste was produced in 2022, Up 82% from 2010, and this figure is on track to rise another 32%, to 82 million tonnes by 2030. This increasing volume of discarded e-waste is putting immense strain on the environment and our communities.
E-waste covers anything that needs a power source, like computers, servers, kitchen appliances and whitegoods. It also includes civic structures like telecommunication exchanges.
But here’s the kicker: e-waste isn’t trash. Locked inside e-waste are valuable materials like iron, copper and steel that we can reuse in the circular economy, instead of continually mining them from the earth.
Given the world remains dependent on a few countries for rare earth elements, despite their unique properties crucial for future technologies, such as renewable energy generation and e-mobility, we need to be doing more to highlight the global e-waste crisis, and more importantly, solve it.
In 2022
62M t
of e-waste was produced
By 2030, we will generate
82M t
of e-waste worldwide
The world generates e-waste
5x
faster than it is recycled
In 2022
22%
of e-waste was properly collected and recycled
In 2022 alone, we buried
$62B
worth of recoverable natural resources in e-waste
Australians generate
22kg
of e-waste per capita
90% of e-waste recyclers in Australia send more than
80%
of non-repurposed material to landfill
E-waste is being generated five times faster than its being recycled
According to the UN’s fourth global e-waste monitor, the world’s generation of electronic waste is rising five times faster than documented e-waste recycling. In 2022, less than one quarter (22.3%) of the year’s e-waste mass was documented as having been properly collected and recycled, equating to $62 billion worth of recoverable natural resources unaccounted for and increasing pollution risks to communities worldwide.
The report foresees a drop in the documented collection and recycling rate from 22.3% in 2022 to 20% by 2030 due to the widening difference in recycling efforts relative to the staggering growth of e-waste generation worldwide.
The challenges with recycling e-waste
There is a difference between the recycling efforts of countries around the world because recycling e-waste is not easy.
Challenges contributing to the widening gap include technological progress, higher consumption, limited repair options, shorter product life cycles, society’s growing electronification, design shortcomings, and inadequate e-waste management infrastructure.
Take Australia as an example. Australians generate around 20kg of e-waste per capita – more than double the global average. By 2030 our national total e-waste is projected to hit 657,000 tonnes. Despite this issue, more than 90% of e-waste recyclers in Australia only focus on repurposing or selling a relatively small amount of high value material from e-waste, sending more than 80% of non-repurposed material to landfill.
We can recycle better, but system wide changes are needed
At the heart of the Sircel brand is a deep desire to “make better possible”. A better, brighter, more sustainable future where the valuable commodities we currently “throw away” in end-of-life electronics can and do find their way back into manufacturing. A truly circular economy.
But for this to work system wide changes are needed. That’s why we’re advocating for change by making a submission to the Federal Government’s Senate Enquiry on waste reduction and recycling policies.
In this submission we outlined how Australia can be at the forefront of solving the e-waste challenge, ultimately becoming an exporter of this expertise. However, to enable this to happen there needs to be:
1A specific, nationally recognised definition and product category for e-waste, treated in a discreet way
2A single, nationally consistent, legislative and policy framework for the treatment of e-waste
3A holistic approach to understanding and managing e-waste from manufacturing, product stewardship life-cycle usage, collection and recycling
You can read our full submission here.
Can we make a difference?
If countries, including Australia, can bring the e-waste collection and recycling rates to 60% by 2030 it would exceed costs by more than US $38 billion. Not to mention improve the environmental, health and social issues caused by the mishandling of e-waste.
That’s why Sircel is creating an ethical and effective circular economy for e-waste. It’s better for business, the community and the planet.