WEEE Recycle - Eye-opening electronic waste statistics

1. Eye-opening electronic waste statistics Electronic waste is a pressing issue for countries all around the world. The term ‘E- Waste' concerns electronic waste such as smartphones, tablets, computers, batteries, and many related items that are no longer desired. Each year between 20 to 50 million metric tons of e-waste is generated, and from this waste sadly only around 12.5% of it is currently being disposed of responsibly. With these astonishing figures, it comes as no surprise that governments from first world countries are taking the step towards safe electronic waste disposal via the introduction of e-waste specific recycling. A great many of us are ignorant of the significance of correct electronic waste disposal and are also unaware of the importance of e-waste recycling. Here are some relevant facts and figures to bear in mind concerning electronic waste disposal: 1.The amount of global e-waste being generated is predicted to grow by a whopping 8% per year! 2.Approximately 7% of the world’s gold may currently be contained within e- waste, and almost 100 times more gold can be found in a tonne of electronic waste than can be extracted from a tonne of gold ore! This gives some indication as to how important proper electronic waste disposal is. 3.If electronic waste was to be segregated by size it would look like something like this: approximately 16.8 million metric tons of small equipment; 9.1 million metric tons of large equipment such as telephones, fax machines, etc; 7.6 million metric tons of temperature control equipment; 6.6 million metric tons of screens and monitors (included, but not restricted to laptops and computers); 3.9 million metric tons of small technological items such as mice, phones, earphones, etc; and 0.7 million metric tons of lamps! Now let's have a look at some conscientious electronic waste disposal practices that we can all follow: By evaluating the various efficient and cost-effective methods of electronic waste disposal, you can see a number of direct benefits that can be obtained. Recycling

2. e-waste is an established method of electronic waste disposal. Did you know that recycling about 1 million laptops or desktop computers can save enough energy to power around 3,500 homes for almost a year?! Incentives such as these are significant steps in the reduction of energy consumption. And that’s not all we can do… If we were to recycle 1 million mobile phones, we could recover more than 35,000 pounds of copper, 772 pounds of silver, 33 pounds of palladium, and 75 pounds of gold - A huge economic incentive! If these quantities of metals were to be recovered, it would mean less mining activities, resulting in less environmental impact on the earth. There is also the costs of transporting heavy pieces of machinery involved in mining operations. Hopefully, you can begin to see that electronic waste disposal can be self- sustainable and of huge benefit to us all, both locally and globally.