The Global E-Waste Monitor 2020 report

July 7th, 2020

The Global E-waste Statistics Partnership (GESP) published The Global E-Waste Monitor 2020 report that provides an overview of the global e-waste situation.

Last year, the global population produced 53.6 million tons of e-waste (Electrical and Electronic Equipment Waste), that is equal to an average of 7.3 kg per capita.

The category with more e-waste produced is Small equipment with 17.4 million tons, followed by Large equipment with 13.1 million tons and Temperature exchange equipment with 10.8 million tons. The other categories - Screens and monitors, Small IT and telecommunication equipment and Lamps -represent a smaller share of the total amount, respectively 6.7 million tons, 4.7 million tons and 0.9 million tons.

Considering the total weight of e-waste produced, since 2014, the Temperature exchange equipment is the category that has been increasing the most with 7% of annual average followed by Large equipment category (+5%), and Lamps and Small equipment category (+4%).

The study expects that global electronic waste will reach 74 million tons by 2030. The reason of this increasing amount is to be found in the higher consumption rates of electrical and electronic products, short life cycles, few repair options and in the inability of the recycling activities to follow the global growth of e-waste.

The continent with the highest quantity of e-waste in 2019 is Asia with 24.9 million tons, but in terms of highest collection and recycling rate the first continent is Europe with 42.5%.

Furthermore, also the number of countries and population covered by legislation, policy and regulation has been increased, from 61 countries in 2014 with 44% of population covered to 78 countries in 2019 with 71% of population covered.

The WEEE recycling is important because these products contain some hazardous materials that can be dangerous for the environment and the human health and other raw materials that can be reused as secondary materials contributing to the full achievement of the Circular Economy.

Download the report

Source: globalewaste.org

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