Global e-Waste Monitor 2024: electronic waste rising five times faster than documented e-waste recycling
A record 62 million tonnes (Mt) of e-waste was produced in 2022, Up 82% from 2010. On track to rise another 32%, to 82 million tonnes, in 2030.
The world’s generation of electronic waste is rising five times faster than documented e-waste recycling, the UN’s fourth Global E-waste Monitor (GEM) reveals. The 62 million tonnes of e-waste generated in 2022 would fill 1.55 million 40-tonne trucks, roughly enough trucks to form a bumper-tobumper line encircling the equator, according to the report from ITU and UNITAR.
Meanwhile, less than one quarter (22.3%) of the year’s e-waste mass was documented as having been properly collected and recycled in 2022, leaving US $62 billion worth of recoverable natural resources unaccounted for and increasing pollution risks to communities worldwide. Worldwide, the annual generation of e-waste is rising by 2.6 million tonnes annually, on track to reach 82 million tonnes by 2030, a further 33% increase from the 2022 figure. E-waste, any discarded product with a plug or battery, is a health and environmental hazard, containing toxic additives or hazardous substances such as mercury, which can damage the human brain and coordination system.
The report foresees a drop in the documented collection and recycling rate from 22.3% in 2022 to 20% by 2030 due to the widening difference in recycling efforts relative to the staggering growth of e-waste generation worldwide. Challenges contributing to the widening gap include technological progress, higher consumption, limited repair options, shorter product life cycles, society’s growing electronification, design shortcomings, and inadequate e-waste management infrastructure.
The report underlines that if countries could bring the e-waste collection and recycling rates to 60% by 2030, the benefits - including through minimizing human health risks - would exceed costs by more than US $38 billion. It also notes that the world “remains stunningly dependent” on a few countries for rare earth elements, despite their unique properties crucial for future technologies, including renewable energy generation and e-mobility.
RECYCLING RATES:
- 42.8%: Formally documented collection and recycling rates in Europe
- <1%: Formally recycled e-waste in African countries
- ~50% (30 million tonnes): E-waste generated by Asian countries (of which relatively few have enacted legislation or established clear e-waste collection targets)
- 17.6 kg: Per capita e-waste generation in Europe, followed by Oceania (16.1 kg) and the Americas (14.1 kg). These regions also have the highest documented per capita collection and recycling rates (7.5 kg in Europe, 6.7 kg in Oceania and 4.2 kg in the Americas)
- 16 million tonnes: e-waste collected and recycled outside of formal systems in high- and upper-middle income countries that have developed e-waste management infrastructure.
- 18 million tonnes: e-waste managed mostly by the informal sector in low and lower-middle income countries with no e-waste management infrastructure. Any material values recovered by the informal sector are largely (perhaps more than) offset by extremely high health and environmental costs
- 5.1 million tonnes (8.2% of the global total): e-waste shipped across borders in 2022, of which ~3.3 million tonnes (65%) was shipped from high-income to middle- and low-income countries through uncontrolled, undocumented
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