World Produced 62 Million Tonnes Of E-Waste In 2022. Filled In Trucks, It Can Go Round the Equator
NDTV
Far from worthless junk, the UN estimates the value of metals in all these discarded gadgets at $91 billion.
Our discarded electronic gadgets are creating unmanageable e-waste across the world, according to a shocking new report. The report from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) said that the world produced 62 million tonnes of e-waste in 2022 - the equivalent weight of 6,000 Eiffel Towers, or filling around 1.55 million 40-tonne trucks - equivalent to encircling the equator with trucks bumper-to-bumper. It revealed another grim statistic - that the world's waste is increasing by 2.6 million tonnes each year and could hit as much as 82 million tonnes by 2030.
The report said that less than one quarter of the 62 million tonnes of e-waste produced in 2022 was recycled, resulting in heavy metals, plastics and toxic chemicals leaking from junked devices.
"This is a big catastrophe for the environment. No more than 1% of demand for essential rare earth elements is met by e-waste recycling. Simply put: Business as usual can't continue," Kees Balde, lead author of the report, said.
