14 million tonnes of electronic waste are improperly thrown out with regular household waste globally every year, new data from Global E-Waste Monitor 2024 shows.
Ahead of International E-Waste Day on Monday 14 October, the Global E-Waste Monitor 2024 revealed that nearly a quarter of e-waste ends up in household rubbish bins each year.
The Irish e-waste recycling scheme WEEE Ireland has called for a change in how people view waste items such as power tools, electronic toys, mobile phones, and other electrical and electronic goods.
Separate research conducted by WEEE Ireland earlier this year showed that one in eight people in Ireland dump small electrical items in household bins, which rises to one in four among younger age groups.
Leo Donovan, CEO of WEEE Ireland, commented: “Careless disposal represents a missed opportunity for recycling, as many of these items contain recoverable materials that can be used to make new products and squanders critical resources that are increasingly in scarce supply.
“Recycling e-waste should no longer be viewed as merely disposing of old electronics that can’t be repaired or reused.
“Instead, we need to see it as an opportunity to recover all the valuable materials they contain. By adopting this mindset, we give a second life to items that are often considered ‘end of life’.
“The circular economy thrives when we stop thinking of these items as waste and start realising their value as resources.”
The Global E-Waste Monitor reports that 29kg of e-waste is generated per household, amounting to 62 billion tonnes globally.
This amount contained approximately 4 billion kg of metals, including 34 million kg of cobalt and 3.9 billion kg of aluminium, according to the data.
However, the data showed just 1% of critical raw material requirements are met by current e-waste recycling, which needs to increase to 25% under the new Critical Raw Materials Act for Ireland and EU member states.
