Dive Brief:
- According to experts, a global system geared toward recycling electronics could help emerging countries with rising volumes of e-waste until they can handle the electronic waste themselves, according to industry scholars Ruediger Kuehr and Feng Wang.
- The informal methods used by developing countries to extract elements aren’t efficient, leaving substantial quantities of materials behind. These leftover devices are still considered e-waste.
- Since 2013, emerging countries have been producing greater volumes of e-waste themselves—even more than “industrialized” nations, leading to a glut of electronics.
Dive Insight:
Experts suggest that in order to confront the large amount of e-waste, new models must be developed. Without regulations put in place in a majority of these countries, recycling electronics can prove to be a challenge.
One concept being floated around amid the abundance of e-waste proliferating worldwide: global recycling. Experts believe that a “reverse supply chain” implemented globally could effectively reduce electronic waste.
Countries would continue the manual dismantling of components, while equipment used to refine and dispose of the debris would be delivered to emerging countries. As pre-processing is already a norm, the machinery would expand recycling practices and allow workers to further shred and landfill the waste.