A United Nations-backed annual report on global electronic waste states that total eWaste quantity comprising of abandoned cellphones, flat-screen TVs and other electronic goods grew dangerously and created a new record of 53.6 million metric tons.
The report observed a rise of 7.6% spiking the overall total from 49.8 million (2018) metric tons to 53.6 million metric tonnes (2019).
The largest amount of elements among the discarded waste are plastic and silicon were large amounts of copper, gold and other precious metals which are primarily to conduct electricity on circuit boards.
It is worth noting that only 17% of it was recycled while the remainder of those valuable components worth about $57 billion remained reclaimed. Discarded electronic equipment poses significant health and environmental hazard as they contain substances such as mercury that can damage the human nervous system.
The authors of the UN University produced-study, International Solid Waste Association and others predict that the global e-waste could grow to 74 million metric tons by 2030.
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