Mounting E-Waste is Harming the Planet. Here’s How We Solve the Problem.

Posted on January 18, 2021

by: Callie BabbittAssociate Professor of Sustainability, Rochester Institute of Technology, and Shahana AlthafPostdoctoral associate, Yale University

Most of the world’s electronics are not recycled, posing health and environmental risks.

Image: REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez

• Constant tech upgrades have created a growing global e-waste challenge.

• While U.S. households now produce less e-waste by weight than in 2015, only about 35% is recycled.

• If devices decompose in landfills, hazardous compounds can leach into groundwater, including lead and mercury.

It’s hard to imagine navigating modern life without a mobile phone in hand. Computers, tablets and smartphones have transformed how we communicate, work, learn, share news and entertain ourselves. They became even more essential when the COVID-19 pandemic moved classes, meetings and social connections online.

But few people realize that our reliance on electronics comes with steep environmental costs, from mining minerals to disposing of used devices. Consumers can’t resist faster products with more storage and better cameras, but constant upgrades have created a growing global waste challenge. In 2019 alone, people discarded 53 million metric tons of electronic waste.

In our work as sustainability researchers, we study how consumer behavior and technological innovations influence the products that people buy, how long they keep them and how these items are reused or recycled.

Our research shows that while e-waste is rising globally, it’s declining in the U.S. But some innovations that are slimming down the e-waste stream are also making products harder to repair and recycle.

Sending electronics to junkyards or landfills wastes an opportunity to recycle valuable materials inside them. Image: Joe Sohm/Visions of America /Getty Images

Recycling used electronics

Thirty years of data show why the volume of e-waste in the U.S. is decreasing. New products are lighter and more compact than past offerings. Smartphones and laptops have edged out desktop computers. Televisions with thin, flat screens have displaced bulkier cathode-ray tubes, and streaming services are doing the job that once required standalone MP3, DVD and Blu-ray players. U.S. households now produce about 10% less electronic waste by weight than they did at their peak in 2015.

The bad news is that only about 35% of U.S. e-waste is recycled. Consumers often don’t know where to recycle discarded products. If electronic devices decompose in landfills, hazardous compounds can leach into groundwater, including lead used in older circuit boards, mercury found in early LCD screens and flame retardants in plastics. This process poses health risks to people and wildlife.