In Europe, only a third of discarded electronics is recycled.
A special study , conducted jointly by the UN and Interpol, indicates that the amount of industrial disposal of discarded electronics is barely more than a third of the amount that actually ends up in landfills. Most of the discarded devices - smartphones, laptops, televisions - are illegally sold to Africa. There, if necessary, they are repaired and begin their second life. Because of this, the loss of the EU economy last year amounted to 1.7 billion euros.
The most disciplined countries, the level of electronics processing in which reaches 85%, are Sweden and Norway. At the opposite end of this list are Romania, Spain and Cyprus: in these countries the level of utilization does not reach the value of 20%. In absolute values, the statistics looks like this. In 2012, out of 9.5 million discarded electronics, only 3.3 million tons were recycled. Approximately 1.3 million tons of “e-waste” were legally exported to other countries, and the remainder could not be correctly taken into account. It is likely that most of it settled in Nigeria or Ghana.
The main reason for this situation, according to the authors of the study, is the insufficient number of e-waste disposal centers. “Buyers simply do not know where to find them,” says Pascal Leroy, one of the authors of the report. With this statement, responsibility for the voiced problem is shifted onto the shoulders of electronics manufacturers, since the European Union countries adopted the Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment back in 2002 (Waste of Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive). According to this document, the disposal of e-waste should be handled by their manufacturers.
It is interesting to note the fact from the UN report " THE GLOBAL E-WASTE MONITOR ". In 2013, emitted garbage contained 300 tons of gold, which accounted for 11% of the total global turnover of the precious metal that year.
The most disciplined countries, the level of electronics processing in which reaches 85%, are Sweden and Norway. At the opposite end of this list are Romania, Spain and Cyprus: in these countries the level of utilization does not reach the value of 20%. In absolute values, the statistics looks like this. In 2012, out of 9.5 million discarded electronics, only 3.3 million tons were recycled. Approximately 1.3 million tons of “e-waste” were legally exported to other countries, and the remainder could not be correctly taken into account. It is likely that most of it settled in Nigeria or Ghana.
The main reason for this situation, according to the authors of the study, is the insufficient number of e-waste disposal centers. “Buyers simply do not know where to find them,” says Pascal Leroy, one of the authors of the report. With this statement, responsibility for the voiced problem is shifted onto the shoulders of electronics manufacturers, since the European Union countries adopted the Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment back in 2002 (Waste of Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive). According to this document, the disposal of e-waste should be handled by their manufacturers.
It is interesting to note the fact from the UN report " THE GLOBAL E-WASTE MONITOR ". In 2013, emitted garbage contained 300 tons of gold, which accounted for 11% of the total global turnover of the precious metal that year.
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Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/368105/
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