Supporting information
E-waste is the common designation of WEEE (Waste of Electric and Electronic Equipment). This terminology refers to waste from the following old products:
Why is it a problem?
If we recycle e-waste back home in modern factories, e-waste is not a problem. But if we ship it to developing countries (which is now the case for about 80% of the world's e-waste [1]), people there have no means to recycle it properly. They end up burning it in open air to melt down the plastic and other non-valuable stuff in order to expose the valuable components. Inside a pile of e-waste there are computers, monitors, phones and etc that still work and they can be recovered and resold. But over 70% [5] of it is already broken and it ends up in piles and burned like in the picture on the right.
The current situation
For many years, rich countries have been sending e-waste to poor countries in Africa and Asia. That flow alone in 2016 was 46 billion kg. A cheap and unregulated labor market makes it more profitable to ship to Africa/Asia then to recycle back home. E-waste has up to 60 valuable metals inside like silver, copper, gold, platinum and etc [2]. But also harmful chemicals such as cadmium, chromium, mercury and lead. These substances are so toxic to humans that their manipulation has been highly regulated in rich countries. Exposure to fumes released while burning e-waste is very dangerous. This unfair situation highlights the problems that populations in despair suffer to make a living as low as a few $ per day. The developing world is full of examples of how easy it is to bypass local legislation with a few bribes with the aim of seeking profit. If the world is to be more inclusive, fair and sustainable, then people working with dangerous chemicals/substances should at least have the required minimum conditions to preserve their health.
- Lamps
- White goods: Washing machines, fridges, etc..
- Smartphones, laptops, monitors, etc...
Why is it a problem?
If we recycle e-waste back home in modern factories, e-waste is not a problem. But if we ship it to developing countries (which is now the case for about 80% of the world's e-waste [1]), people there have no means to recycle it properly. They end up burning it in open air to melt down the plastic and other non-valuable stuff in order to expose the valuable components. Inside a pile of e-waste there are computers, monitors, phones and etc that still work and they can be recovered and resold. But over 70% [5] of it is already broken and it ends up in piles and burned like in the picture on the right.
The current situation
For many years, rich countries have been sending e-waste to poor countries in Africa and Asia. That flow alone in 2016 was 46 billion kg. A cheap and unregulated labor market makes it more profitable to ship to Africa/Asia then to recycle back home. E-waste has up to 60 valuable metals inside like silver, copper, gold, platinum and etc [2]. But also harmful chemicals such as cadmium, chromium, mercury and lead. These substances are so toxic to humans that their manipulation has been highly regulated in rich countries. Exposure to fumes released while burning e-waste is very dangerous. This unfair situation highlights the problems that populations in despair suffer to make a living as low as a few $ per day. The developing world is full of examples of how easy it is to bypass local legislation with a few bribes with the aim of seeking profit. If the world is to be more inclusive, fair and sustainable, then people working with dangerous chemicals/substances should at least have the required minimum conditions to preserve their health.
In 2016 the world population generated 44.6 billion kg of e-waste (yes that's like 44,600,000,000 kg or the equivalent of 1500 Eiffel towers) [1]. Of that, only around 20% could be recycled back home and the rest is sent to developing countries. China alone receives 50% of the worlds illegal e-waste [3]. African countries and others Asian countries receive the rest. Some of the creative ways that rich countries use to get rid of e-waste illegally is to send it inside old cars. The contrast between e-waste generation across the world could not be bigger: an average inhabitant of the developed world produces on average 19.6 kg of e-waste whereas an inhabitant of a developing countries produces 0.6 kg. That's 32 x more!
Mainly in Africa, a huge lack of working conditions and knowledge on the dangers of handling e-waste are widely unknown among workers. On average 75% of the people working in countries like Ghana, Nigeria or the Ivory Coast have no idea that burning and handling e-waste poses a serious threat to their health [2]. They work to recover the valuable metals that are inside e-waste. In China, e-waste recycling is thought to employ over 100,000 people [3] and in Nigeria over 50% of the working force works in e-waste recycling. Recycling e-waste provides thousands of jobs across the world and it is an important economic sector in many African countries [4]. Families depends on the illegal imports of e-waste to subsist by extracting materials. Others repair electronic equipment that can still be used and resold.
Mainly in Africa, a huge lack of working conditions and knowledge on the dangers of handling e-waste are widely unknown among workers. On average 75% of the people working in countries like Ghana, Nigeria or the Ivory Coast have no idea that burning and handling e-waste poses a serious threat to their health [2]. They work to recover the valuable metals that are inside e-waste. In China, e-waste recycling is thought to employ over 100,000 people [3] and in Nigeria over 50% of the working force works in e-waste recycling. Recycling e-waste provides thousands of jobs across the world and it is an important economic sector in many African countries [4]. Families depends on the illegal imports of e-waste to subsist by extracting materials. Others repair electronic equipment that can still be used and resold.
In the But what's inside e-waste that makes it valuable?
E-waste is a true "gold mine" because of all the metals inside. A traditional smartphone weighing ±100g has on average inside of it several valuable metals (market prices in parentheses):
It's easy then to understand that e-waste is valuable and if recycled in a proper and safe way, we could use those materials inside e-waste to produce again new products. This concept is called the urban mine - Instead of mining for new metals to produce electronic stuff we can use the metals that are inside our products. In the US in 2012 the urban mine potential was over 21 billion $ [3].
E-waste is a true "gold mine" because of all the metals inside. A traditional smartphone weighing ±100g has on average inside of it several valuable metals (market prices in parentheses):
- 13.7 g of copper. (Market value $8/kg)
- 0.189 g of silver. (Market value: $649/kg)
- 0.028 g of gold. (Market value $39,443/kg)
- 0.014 g of palladium. (Market value $16,948/kg)
It's easy then to understand that e-waste is valuable and if recycled in a proper and safe way, we could use those materials inside e-waste to produce again new products. This concept is called the urban mine - Instead of mining for new metals to produce electronic stuff we can use the metals that are inside our products. In the US in 2012 the urban mine potential was over 21 billion $ [3].
Conclusion
E-waste is a big humanitarian problem in developing countries because they lack the means to safely recycle e-waste. Although it employs many hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, we need to make an effort to improve working conditions across the world. An inclusive and fair policy for developing countries means that they can use e-waste imports to provide economic growth and provide back to industrialized countries the metals inside e-waste. This is what for example Closing the Loop aims at doing.
If you want to learn more about e-waste challenges and how to improve it then check this free online course provided by Climate-KIC.
E-waste is a big humanitarian problem in developing countries because they lack the means to safely recycle e-waste. Although it employs many hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, we need to make an effort to improve working conditions across the world. An inclusive and fair policy for developing countries means that they can use e-waste imports to provide economic growth and provide back to industrialized countries the metals inside e-waste. This is what for example Closing the Loop aims at doing.
If you want to learn more about e-waste challenges and how to improve it then check this free online course provided by Climate-KIC.