Ever-g row ing vo lumes cha l l enge the b road e – sc rap recyc l i ng sec to r A Euro 50 million facility for Moscow; a 40 000-tonne facility for Dubai; a state- of-the art
plant for Hong Kong. Groundbreaking electronics recycling projects continue to pop up in
emerging economies around the globe. Indeed, evergrowing e-scrap volumes offer a great
business opportunity. At the same time, however, the sector is facing increased and com-
plex challenges, experts warned at the latest International Electronics Recycling Congress.
The numbers speak for themselves:
worldwide, some 45 million tonnes of
electronic scrap was generated in
2016, according to a new study from
the United Nations University (UNU).
This represents an increase of 3.3 mil-
lion tonnes or 3% over 2014, with fur-
ther growth of 17% to 52 million
tonnes predicted for 2021.
Boosted by ongoing urbanisation and a
rapidly-growing middle class, mainly in
Asia (China/India), electronics consump-
tion and e-scrap generation are expect-
ed to witness spectacular growth in the
coming decades, concludes the study.
With a population of 7.4 billion, the
world now has 7.7 billion mobile phones
and 8 out of 10 people now have mobile
phone access. In addition, some 3.6 bil-
lion people – close to half the world’s
population – use the internet, up from
20.5% in 2007. Almost half of the world’s
households have a computer (up from
30.2% in 2007) and 54% have internet
access (up from 23% in 2007).
LOW RECYCLING RATE
In addition to documenting these
impressive numbers, the UNU calls for
better laws and regulations to harmo-
nise and boost recycling. Currently,
‘less than 20%’ of the 45 million
tonnes of e-scrap generated annually
is believed to be properly processed,
concludes the report. ‘Only 41 coun-
tries quantify their e-waste generation
and recycling streams officially; the
fate of a large majority of e-waste – 34
million of the 45 million tonnes – is
simply unknown,’ it states.
The UNU advocates: better design of
the components making up electrical
A u t H o R Martijn Reintjes
28
Electronics consumption and e-scrap generation are expected to witness spectacular growth in the coming decades.
Smart capacity wave
28-29-30-31-32-33_iercreport.indd 28 15-03-18 14:35
