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E-waste from Trashed Electric Devices is Piling Up, UN Says

A man who scavenges recyclable materials for a living, sleep on a truck at Dandora, the largest garbage dump in the capital Nairobi, Kenya Wednesday, March 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
A man who scavenges recyclable materials for a living, sleep on a truck at Dandora, the largest garbage dump in the capital Nairobi, Kenya Wednesday, March 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
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E-waste from Trashed Electric Devices is Piling Up, UN Says

A man who scavenges recyclable materials for a living, sleep on a truck at Dandora, the largest garbage dump in the capital Nairobi, Kenya Wednesday, March 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
A man who scavenges recyclable materials for a living, sleep on a truck at Dandora, the largest garbage dump in the capital Nairobi, Kenya Wednesday, March 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

UN agencies have warned that waste from electronics is piling up worldwide while recycling rates remain low and are likely to fall even further.

The agencies were referring to “e-waste,” which is defined as discarded devices with a plug or battery, including cellphones, electronic toys, TVs, microwave ovens, e-cigarettes, laptop computers and solar panels. It does not include waste from electronic vehicles, which fall into a separate category.

In a report released Wednesday, the UN’s International Telecommunications Union and research arm UNITAR said some 62 million tons of “e-waste” was generated in 2022, enough to fill tractor-trailers that could be lined up bumper to bumper around the globe. It’s on track to reach 82 million tons by 2030.

Metals — including copper, gold and iron — made up half of the 62 million tons, worth a total of some $91 billion, the report said, according to The Associated Press. Plastics accounted for 17 million tons and the remaining 14 million tons include substances like composite materials and glass.

The UN says 22% of the e-waste mass was properly collected and recycled in 2022. It is expected to fall to 20% by the end of the decade because of “staggering growth" of such waste due to higher consumption, limited repair options, shorter product life cycles, growing “electronification” of society, and inadequate e-waste management infrastructure, the agencies said.

They said some of the discarded electronic devices contained hazardous elements like mercury, as well as rare Earth metals coveted by tech industry manufacturers. Currently, only 1% of the demand for the 17 minerals that make up the rare metals is met through recycling.

About half of all e-waste is generated in Asia, where few countries have laws on e-waste or collection targets, according to the report. Recycling and collection rates top 40% in Europe, where per-capita waste generation is highest: nearly 18 kilograms (39 pounds).

In Africa, which generates the least of any of the five big global regions, recycling and collection rates hover at about 1%, it said.

“The latest research shows that the global challenge posed by e-waste is only going to grow,” said Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava, head of the ITU telecommunication development bureau. “With less than half of the world implementing and enforcing approaches to manage the problem, this raises the alarm for sound regulations to boost collection and recycling.”

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Heartbroken Brits Abandon Pets as Living Costs Bite

Rising numbers of pets are being left at the Mayhew shelter in London as owners no longer able to afford their care take the heartbreaking decision to try to re-home them. Ben STANSALL / AFP
Rising numbers of pets are being left at the Mayhew shelter in London as owners no longer able to afford their care take the heartbreaking decision to try to re-home them. Ben STANSALL / AFP
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Heartbroken Brits Abandon Pets as Living Costs Bite

Rising numbers of pets are being left at the Mayhew shelter in London as owners no longer able to afford their care take the heartbreaking decision to try to re-home them. Ben STANSALL / AFP
Rising numbers of pets are being left at the Mayhew shelter in London as owners no longer able to afford their care take the heartbreaking decision to try to re-home them. Ben STANSALL / AFP

Staff at a London animal shelter have seen more than their fair share of abandoned pets over the years, from kittens in boxes to budgies dropped outside in the dead of night.
But lately there has been a surge in the numbers as people make the heartbreaking decision to give up their animal companions, no longer able to afford to care for their pets.

Struggling animal owners are feeling "a lot of heartache... and also shame and frustration that they're having to make these decisions," said Elvira Meucci-Lyons, the boss of the Mayhew shelter in Kensal Green, west London.

"They come to us because they feel they have no choice," she said.

"Behind every animal we take in there's a human story."

The small center has taken in more than 130 animals this year alone. It is part of a wider rise across the UK, where tens of thousands of pets have been abandoned since the Covid-19 pandemic and the onset of a cost-of-living crisis.

In the first few months of this year, more than 5,700 abandonments have been reported to the RSPCA, the world's oldest animal welfare organization -- a 32 percent rise on the same period in 2024.

Last year saw around 22,500 cases reported in total, up more than seven percent on 2023.
The challenge of affording animal care poses a heart-wrenching problem for many in Britain, a nation of dog and cat lovers where half the adult population -- more than 26 million people -- has a pet, according to the RSPCA.

And it has hit the country's poorest especially hard. Staff at Mayhew said some owners were having to choose between feeding themselves or their pets.

Several pets at the center -- including dogs Brownie, a one-year-old toy poodle, and Astro, a pocket American bully -- were brought in because their owners lost their homes due to financial troubles.

Stories like these are "the most upsetting", Meucci-Lyons said, because in hard times pet owners "need their lovely animals more than ever and the dog or cat doesn't want to do without their owner."

Rising vet bills
Mayhew staff said more pets were also arriving at the center in Kensal Green in poor health, often because their owners cannot afford veterinary bills.

Felix's case is typical. The muscular nine-year-old tomcat was playing with a length of string. But he arrived with tooth problems, with his owners bringing him to the shelter and saying they couldn't afford to keep him.
"We're seeing quite a lot more needing dental work nowadays," said Mayhew spokeswoman Olivia Patt.

The pandemic saw a spike in pet ownership under government lockdowns, and a subsequent wave of people then giving up their animals as normal lifestyles resumed.

Some people are returning lockdown pets, several years on. But RSPCA spokesman David Bowles told AFP that living costs, which soared during the pandemic, have become a major factor driving abandonments.

"We are now five years on from the first lockdown under Covid. The RSPCA believes the cost-of-living crisis is really impacting people's ability to pay for vet treatment in particular," he said.

UK inflation soared above 11 percent in October 2022, the highest level in more than four decades, and while it has slowed in the last few years, people are still feeling the squeeze.

Prices for many items including pet food have gone up by around 25 percent.
At Mayhew, staff have been doing all they can, from providing struggling owners with pet food and animal care packages, to offering free preventative treatments.

But the pressure has pushed the shelter's bubbly staff to their limits.

"We are run off our feet, we can't keep up with the demand," said Meucci-Lyons.

Even though the staff are comforted by knowing they make a difference, "every day it is heartbreaking -- we go to bed at night thinking about the dogs and cats we can't help," she said.