A new report on electronic waste At least $10 bn (£7.9 bn) worth of gold, platinum and other precious metals are thrown out every year in the growing mountain of electronic waste that is polluting the planet, according to a new UN report. A record 54m tonnes of “e-waste”was generated worldwide last year, up 21% in five years, the UN’s Global E-waste Monitor report found. The report explained that this was 7.3 kg for every man, woman and child on Earth, though use is concentrated in richer nations. The amount of e-waste is rising three times faster than the world’s population, and only 17% of it is recycled. Electronic and electrical goods – such as phones, computers, refrigerators and kettles – often contain toxic chemicals, and rising production and waste damage human health and the environment. The report blames lack of regulation and the short life of products that are hard or impossible to repair. E-waste contains materials including copper, iron, gold, silver and platinum, which the report gives a value of at least $57 bn. But most are dumped or burned rather than being collected for recycling. Precious metals in waste are estimated to be worth $14 bn, but only $4 bn-worth is recovered at the moment. Europe had the highest recycling rate at 42%, with Asia second at 12%. But across North and South America, and Oceania, the rate was 9% and in Africa it was 0.9%. It estimated that 50 tonnes of mercury from monitors, energy-saving light bulbs and other e-waste was dumped each year. Furthermore, gases released from old fridges and air-conditioning units were the same as 98 m tonnes of carbon dioxide, close to that for whole of Belgium. “E-waste is a very big problem because the amount is growing at a very rapid pace each year, and the level of recycling is just not keeping up pace,” said Kees Baldé at the UN University, based in Bonn, and an author of the report. “It’s important to put a price on the pollution – at the moment it is simply free to pollute.” “The biggest problem is that, in many countries, there are no collection systems,” said Mijke Hertoghs, at the UN’s International Telecommunication Union. “The companies that bring the equipment on the market are not being held responsible for the end-of-life disposal.” But Hertoghs said the value of the metals being dumped presented an opportunity and Baldé agreed: “If [collection and recycling] were better organised, the price would go down and I think there are opportunities for creating a new economy. There would be a huge income for many people.” Libby Peake from Green Alliance agreed that action had to be taken, and added that “the ever-growing mountain of e-waste documented in this report represents a completely preventable global scandal.” She said that “it doesn’t have to be this way. Products could be designed to last, to be repaired and, just as importantly, to be upgraded. Ensuring the system keeps electronic products in circulation would create hundreds of thousands of jobs …There’s no excuse for leaving this scandal unaddressed.” Statements True False First four words 0 More “e-waste” than ever before was produced in the previous year. 1 Poorer countries produce less e-waste. 2 One of the causes revealed by the report is that governments are not making rules. 3 Belgium’s fridges and air conditioning units emit 98 m tonnes of CO2. 4 The producers of electrical goods process the e-waste. 5 Done properly, you can actually make money recycling e-waste. 6 Increasing the life-span of electrical products could raise unemployment levels. A record 54 m tonnes 137 Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
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