Great tech shouldn’t cost us Earth.

Electronic waste, or e-waste, is a term for electronic products that have become unwanted, non-working or obsolete, and have essentially reached the end of their useful life.‘E-waste’ means electrical and electronic equipment, whole or in part discarded as waste by the consumer or bulk consumer as well as rejects from manufacturing, refurbishment and repair processes.

Electronics such as mobile phones, TVs, laptops, printers, fax machines or even their parts, which have reached the end of their useful life are called “E-Waste”. If not recycled in an environmentally sound way, e-waste poses a range of environmental risks.
E-waste also contains toxic and hazardous materials including mercury, lead, cadmium, beryllium, chromium, and chemical flame retardants, which have the potential to leach into our soil and water.

How is e-waste affecting our planet? 

As a planet, we generated 54m tons of ‘e-waste’ across 2019, from fatigued fridges to knackered old phones. That’s up 21% in five years. 7.3kg of digital junk from every man, woman and child across the globe. E-waste is growing faster than the world’s population. Worse still, of all the e-waste in 2019, only 17% was recycled.

E-waste contains many valuable, recoverable materials such as aluminum, copper, gold, silver, plastics, and ferrous metals. In order to conserve natural resources and the energy needed to produce new electronic equipment from virgin resources, electronic equipment can be refurbished, reused, and recycled instead of being land-filled.

So what’s behind all this? We live in a world where almost every aspect of our life is ruled by tech. In the case of mobile phones, as each new season approaches, a new model is born. Faster, sexier, and more powerful than ever before… or so we’re led to believe. If we do nothing, research suggests the amount of e-waste will more than double by 2050, reaching 120 tons annually. 

What’s being done around the world to control e-waste?

Brands and governments are taking note of how severe the issue is. Samsung, for example, are collecting and recycling old, unwanted or non-working electronic products in the U.S. While the UN E-Waste Coalition are calling for an overhaul of the current electronics system, emphasizing the need for a circular economy. One where existing devices are refurbished and reused to keep the materials in circulation at their highest value for the longest time.

How can you make a difference?

In a nutshell: get involved with the circular economy. Buying a refurbished phone is a great place to start, as well as. Ultimately, recycling tech will help reduce the amount of e-waste the planet deals with. Plus, you’ll be able to save yourself a bit of cash if you buy a refurbished phone, or make a little bit of money if you sell an old device at nayapurano.