According to a recent UN report, the invisible waste of used electronic devices amounts to over $9.5 billion in essential raw materials that could be recycled.
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The waste of over nine billion kilograms each year includes toys, cables, e-cigarettes, tools, electric toothbrushes, razors, headphones, and other household appliances that contain essential metals such as lithium, gold, silver, and copper, according to a report from TechXplore.
However, these materials go to waste because these “invisible” waste items are discarded rather than recycled, according to the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) in a report released last Thursday (12).
The recycling rate for electronic waste in Europe is 55%, but the global average drops to around 17%. This number goes almost to zero in parts of South America, Asia, and Africa, often due to a lack of collection points, said Magdalena Charytanowicz of the Forum for Waste of Electrical and Electronic Equipment.
