Few cell phones will be disposed of properly
Experts expect that around 5.3 billion mobiles/smartphones will no longer be used this year. Stacked flat on top of each other to an average depth of 9mm, many disused phones would rise about 50,000 km, or 120 times higher than the International Space Station and one-eighth of the way to the Moon.
And, despite their valuable gold, copper, silver, palladium and other recyclable components, experts expect a majority to disappear into drawers, cupboards, closets or garages, or tossed in trash cans meant for landfill or incineration. Surprisingly, mobile phones rank as the 4th most commonly hoarded small EEE product by consumers.
Hoarding the many types of unused, dead or broken small plug-in and battery-powered products is the focus of this year’s 5th International E-Waste Day.
Organizers have published the results of surveys conducted to reveal why so many households and businesses do not bring in waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) for repair or recycling.
The surveys were conducted from June to September 2022, by members of the WEEE Forum and the results were consolidated by the Sustainable Cycles (SCYCLE) program of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).
Surveys show that out of 8,775 European households in six countries representing the diversity of the European Union – Portugal, the Netherlands, Italy, Romania and Slovenia – and in a separate UK survey, the average household contains 74 electronics such as telephones , tablets , laptops, power tools, hair dryers, toasters and other appliances (except lamps).
Of this average total of 74 e-products, 13 are hoarded (nine of them unused but functional, four broken).
The top five small EEE products hoarded in Europe are:
- Small consumer electronics and accessories (e.g. headphones, remote controls)
- Small household equipment (e.g. clocks, irons,)
- Small computer equipment (eg external hard drives, routers, keyboards, mice)
- Cell phones and smartphones
- Small food preparation equipment (e.g. toasters, food processors, grills)
Meanwhile, LED lamps top the list of products most likely to be discarded.
Small kitchen and household equipment, laptops and tablets hoarded as a share of total household stock of these items:
- Italy (29%)
- Netherlands (17%)
- UK (14%)
- Slovenia (12%)
- Romania (9%)
- Portugal (8%)
- Lebanon (4%)
Main reasons for hoarding WEEE of all kinds in Europe:
- I might use it again in the future (46%)
- I plan to sell/give it away (15%)
- It has sentimental value (13%)
- It could have value in the future (9%)
- I don’t know how to get rid of it (7%)
- Didn’t have time, forgot it, doesn’t take up too much space (3%)
- Intended use as a secondary residence (3%)
- Presence of sensitive data (2%)
- There is no incentive to recycle (1%)
“We have focused this year on small electronic waste because it is very easy for them to accumulate, unused and unnoticed in households, or to be thrown in the ordinary trash,” explains Pascal Leroy, general manager of the Forum. WEEE. “People tend not to realize that all of these seemingly insignificant items have a lot of value and together, globally, they represent huge volumes.
“The WEEE Forum producer responsibility organizations that manage the collection of WEEE work continuously to make the correct disposal of small WEEE simple and convenient for users and households”, says Pascal Leroy. “Providing collection boxes in supermarkets, collecting broken small appliances when new appliances are delivered and offering post boxes for the return of small electronic waste are just some of the initiatives put in place to encourage the return of these items.”
“As shown in our short public video, in 2022 alone small EEE items such as cell phones, electric toothbrushes, toasters and cameras produced globally will weigh an estimated total of 24, 5 million tonnes, four times the weight of the Great Pyramid of Giza,” says Magdalena Charytanowicz of the WEEE Forum. “And these small items make up a significant proportion of the eight percent of all e-waste that is thrown into trash cans and ultimately landfilled or incinerated.
“These devices offer many important resources that can be used in the production of new electronic devices or other equipment, such as wind turbines, electric car batteries or solar panels – all crucial for the green and digital transition towards low-carbon companies.”
Over the past twenty years, the PROs of the WEEE Forum have collected, cleaned up, recycled or prepared for reuse more than 30 million tonnes of WEEE. They have spent huge sums on communication campaigns. However, the challenges ahead remain daunting.
The Grand Challenge Conference on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) will mark the 20th anniversary of the WEEE Forum, a consortium of reputable e-waste collection organizations. The conference will also mark the 20th anniversary of the European Directive 2002/96/EC.
Dr. Kees Baldé, Senior Scientist at UNITAR SCYCLE and Principal Investigator behind the Global e-Waste Monitor, noted that many small electronics such as disposable airplane headphones or cables and adapters accumulate in large quantities. gone unnoticed in many homes. All the old headphones accumulated by 2026 chained together would stretch three times around the moon.
UN-led concept paper outlines options
Also launched to coincide with International E-Waste Day: a United Nations ‘think piece’ offers a series of ideas and options to reduce the global problem.
Led by the UN’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU), with contributions from the WEEE Forum and StEP, the Solving the eWaste Problem Initiative, the document details the pros and cons of a wide range of options, including, for example:
- Subject all entities having access to electronic waste to minimum legal obligations (principle of all actors)
- Deposit return and recovery systems
- Digital Product Passports, and
- An international EPR regime of States agreeing on basic standards for the treatment and clearance of IAS, and harmonized definitions, categories, methodologies and principles for IAS.
UN certificate available for graduates of new online e-waste training program
Meanwhile, UNITAR, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), has also launched a self-paced online e-waste training course open to everyone. A UNITAR certificate is available for graduates of the approximately 1.5 hour course (lectures, videos, illustrations, tests and final exam).
