The world’s mountain of discarded flat-screen
TVs, cellphones and other electronic goods
grew to a record high last year, according to an
annual report.
The U.N.-backed study estimated the amount
of e-waste that piled up globally in 2019 at 53.6
metric tonnes (59.1 tons) — almost 2 million
metric tons more than the previous year.
The authors of the study calculated the
combined weight of all dumped devices with a
battery or a plug last year was the equivalent of
350 cruise ships the size of the Queen Mary 2.
Among all the discarded plastic and silicon
were large amounts of copper, gold and other
precious metals — used for example to conduct
electricity on circuit boards. While about a
sixth of it was recycled, the remainder of those
valuable components — worth about $57 billion
— weren’t reclaimed, the study found.
Image: Geert Vanden Wijngaert
STUDY: WORLD’S PILE OF ELECTRONIC WASTE GROWS EVER HIGHER
