The biggest
per-capita tallies were in countries known for green awareness, such as Norway
and Denmark, with Britain fifth and US ninth on the UN report’s list
 |
| A fridge dump in Manchester. Almost two-thirds of global e-waste was made up of discarded kitchen and laundry devices. Photograph: Phil Noble/PA |
A record
amount of electrical and electronic waste was discarded around the world in
2014, with the biggest per-capita tallies in countries that pride themselves on
environmental consciousness, a report said.
Last year,
41.8m tonnes of so-called e-waste – mostly fridges, washing machines and other
domestic appliances at the end of their life – was dumped, the UN report said.
That’s the
equivalent of 1.15m heavy trucks, forming a line 23,000km (14,300 miles) long,
according to the report, compiled by the United Nations University, the UN’s
educational and research branch.
Less than
one-sixth of all e-waste was properly recycled, it said.
In 2013,
the e-waste total was 39.8m tonnes – and on present trends, the
50-million-tonne mark could be reached in 2018.
Topping the
list for per-capita waste last year was Norway, with 28.4kg (62.5lbs) per
inhabitant.
It was
followed by Switzerland (26.3kg), Iceland (26.1kg), Denmark (24.0kg), Britain
(23.5kg), the Netherlands (23.4kg), Sweden (22.3kg), France (22.2kg) and the
United States and Austria (22.1kg).
The region
with the lowest amount of e-waste per inhabitant was Africa, with 1.7kg per
person. It generated a total of 1.9m tonnes of waste.
In volume
terms, the most waste was generated in the United States and China, which
together accounted for 32% of the world’s total, followed by Japan, Germany and
India.
Waste that
could have been recovered and recycled was worth $52bn, including 300 tonnes of
gold – equal to 11% of the world’s gold production in 2013.
But it also
included 2.2m tonnes of harmful lead compounds, as well as mercury, cadmium and
chromium, and 4,400 tonnes of ozone-harming chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) gases.
“Worldwide,
e-waste constitutes a valuable ‘urban mine’ – a large potential reservoir of
recyclable materials,” UN under secretary-general David Malone said.
“At the
same time, the hazardous content of e-waste constitutes a ‘toxic mine’ that
must be managed with extreme care.”
Almost 60%
of e-waste by weight came from large and small kitchen, bathroom and laundry
appliances.
Seven
percent was generated by discarded mobile phones, calculators, personal
computers and printers.
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