A record amount of e-waste was generated in 2019

[Shawn Knight]

The big picture: Electronic waste is a generalized term that collectively refers to all discarded electrical and electronic devices, not just stuff that ends up in landfills. According to the GESP, only 17.4 percent of e-waste in 2019 was formally documented and recycled. Considering the high-value metals like copper, gold and iron that can be extracted from old electronics, lots of money – an estimated $57 billion – ended up dumped or burned rather than recovered.

Rapid technological advances in consumer electronics resulted in a record amount of e-waste generated last year.

According to a new report from the Global E-waste Statistics Partnership (GESP), a record 53.6 million metric tons (more than 118 billion pounds) of electronic waste was generated in 2019 – or 7.3 kg (16.09 pounds) per person. Despite the best efforts of recycle and reuse campaigns, that represents a 21 percent increase over the past five years.

Per the report, Asia was the biggest offender with 24.9 million metric tons of e-waste generated followed by the Americas at 13.1 million metric tons and Europe with 12 million metric tons.

The issue is only expected to worsen over time. By 2030, global e-waste is forecasted to reach 74 million metric tons thanks in part to higher consumption rates, shorter product life cycles and limited repair options.

Image credit: gopixa, Andrey_Popov

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https://www.techspot.com/news/85862-record-amount-e-waste-generated-2019.html

 

[QuantumPhysics]

What exactly am I supposed to do with my old computer equipment?

If I put it on a basement shelf, it just sits there.

Eventually it will be damaged and will simply be tossed out.

I can't just "give it away".

No one's gonna pay me much for old equipment - or it will be so obsolete no one will want it.

What is the market value of an HP Pavilion with a Pentium 3 450MHZ and 96 MB RAM?

 

[OneSpeed]

With this COVID-19 going on, my wife keeps telling me to clear out things I don't need or use anymore, especially the "electronic junk". Well, I guess I've added to this mess...

 

[Bullwinkle M]

What exactly am I supposed to do with my old computer equipment?

If I put it on a basement shelf, it just sits there.

Eventually it will be damaged and will simply be tossed out.

I can't just "give it away".

No one's gonna pay me much for old equipment - or it will be so obsolete no one will want it.

What is the market value of an HP Pavilion with a Pentium 3 450MHZ and 96 MB RAM?

My ancient computers are used daily

I don't have anything newer than a Sandy Bridge

E-Waste is the only thing that you can buy now

You no longer have an option to buy a "Personal" computer new in 2020

I've never owned a "smart" phone either, or any Internet of Malware devices and I'm quite happy with that

When "Secure" and "Personal" computers are banned and the only option left is backdoored Spyware Platforms that can never be secured by the end user, it's time to think different

 

[treetops]

All those poor ancient beefy heat sinks going to waste.

 

[stewi0001]

You'd think there would be some kind business opportunity being overlooked with this.

 

[texasrattler]

You'd think there would be some kind business opportunity being overlooked with this.

57 Billion dollars worth.

 

[candle_86]

What exactly am I supposed to do with my old computer equipment?

If I put it on a basement shelf, it just sits there.

Eventually it will be damaged and will simply be tossed out.

I can't just "give it away".

No one's gonna pay me much for old equipment - or it will be so obsolete no one will want it.

What is the market value of an HP Pavilion with a Pentium 3 450MHZ and 96 MB RAM?

About 100-250 bucks actually, thriving retro market actually. He'll I flip 486 computers for profit

 

[candle_86]

You'd think there would be some kind business opportunity being overlooked with this.

There is go look at eBay, I sold some boards recently that don't post to someone that wants to repair the traces and fix the boards.

 

[p51d007]

HOPEFULLY there are people looking at their smartphones and saying, gee, I need to save money because of this pandemic. Do I really "need" a faster smartphone? My phone is fast enough.
That, and (they wont) it would be nice if things like replaceable parts were available on phone.
One or two tried it, but it never took off.

 

[scavengerspc]

You'd think there would be some kind business opportunity being overlooked with this.

There is. It's called recycling. Best Buys do it and so does Goodwill.
The problem is people don't know about it.

 

[Bullwinkle M]

There is. It's called recycling. Best Buys do it and so does Goodwill.
The problem is people don't know about it.

Recycling E-Waste is not what I would call a business opportunity

 

[scavengerspc]

Recycling E-Waste is not what I would call a business opportunity

Neither would I. But you know they are getting something out of it or they wouldn't do it.

 

[Jerry in WA]

I try to re-home all my PCs around to family. I re-sell extra parts on Craigslist about every year or so. I'm about to sell an i7 860/8gb/motherboard/zalman cooler later today. And maybe two more bare motherboards... and a 24" monitor ... and a spare gtx750Ti ....and more. Useless to me but someone can still get life out of them.

I think I may end up tossing a spare gtx260 though. Who would possibly want an outdated, high power requirement, no HDMI out, video card in 2020? If they did, I would question them as to why.

 

[wiyosaya]

What exactly am I supposed to do with my old computer equipment?

If I put it on a basement shelf, it just sits there.

Eventually it will be damaged and will simply be tossed out.

I can't just "give it away".

No one's gonna pay me much for old equipment - or it will be so obsolete no one will want it.

What is the market value of an HP Pavilion with a Pentium 3 450MHZ and 96 MB RAM?

Secure wipe your drives - it is not that hard - and take all such waste to a recycling center. This is what I do with anything that I don't put on e-bay.

 

[Ozmiz]

My only e-trash was a razor gaming keyboard.

A young daughter, a bowl of smurf berry crunch, and bye bye keyboard

 

[Underdog]

The root problem is that the manufacturers have brainwashed the consumer to grab every new product that comes out. They need their fix. Newer, faster, bigger, smaller, lighter, brighter, sexier, etc. etc. etc. Gotta have it, even if the old one is only 18 months old. Consumerism drives it. If they made a decent product with a sensible lifespan there would be less landfill. Processing circuit boards and components to recover the minute amounts of rare metals uses nasty chemical processes that cause pollution. Storing up another problem. It ain't rocket science guys.

 

[stewi0001]

There is. It's called recycling. Best Buys do it and so does Goodwill.
The problem is people don't know about it.

I know Best Buy does take it. I have no idea what they do with it though.