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According to the new Global E-waste Monitor 2017 report from the United Nations University, e-waste has increased by 44.7 million metric tonnes (or 8 percent) from 2014 to 2016. And last year alone, $65 billion worth of minerals was discarded as e-waste.
E-waste contains precious metals like gold, silver, copper, platinum, palladium, iron and aluminum, but about 80 percent of that material ends up in landfills instead of recycling facilities because it’s not properly disposed of.
Kitco News has more:
A revealing new study showed that $22.2 billion worth of gold and $1 billion worth of silver was thrown away worldwide in the form of electronic waste in 2016.
Consumeristic society was to blame for such wastefulness, according to the joint study released by the U.N. University (UNU), the International Telecommunication Union, and the International Solid Waste Association.
“There has been much debate and criticism of the growing ‘throwaway society’, characterized by consumerism and the trend to throw away and buy something new rather than keep and repair,” said the U.N.-backed report titled ‘The Global E-waste Monitor 2017’.
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