Electric and electronic waste (WEEE), are the waste stream that is growing the most in the world.
According to the UN E-waste Monitor of 2024, in 20220 62 million tons of this waste were generated globally 1 . The useful life of electronic devices is very short, as they are designed under the Global North model of rapid consumption and constant renewal. This system incentivizes increasingly programmed obsolescence to increase sales and profits.
This discard dynamics generates large amounts of electronic waste, which continue to increase with the popularization of consumer technology. In Spain, for example, about 19 kg of electronic waste per person is produced per year, and, on the other hand, only about 40% is duly recycled.
Once the devices are discarded, some of them are sent to countries in the Global South. This export, on the one hand, encourages a sector of repairers who do a great job of putting reconditioned appliances back on the market. Despite this, exports are also produced in which reparable appliances are mixed with non-repairable appliances, that is junk.
When in the destination country the infrastructure for the management of this waste is insufficient, an informal sector appears, which handles waste in dangerous conditions, without the technology and protections necessary to minimize the harmful effects of toxic substances present in many electronic components such as lead. These materials, when not treated properly, contaminate soil and water, affecting biodiversity and causing health problems in local populations.
These materials, when not properly treated, cflood soil and water, affecting biodiversity and causing health problems in local populations
→ This fact reinforces the inequalities between the Global North and the Global South, where countries with the highest consumption of technology move their waste to more vulnerable regions, avoiding the environmental and social cost of managing them locally. At the same time, the transport of waste between countries also has a high carbon footprint, which contributes even more to the global climate crisis.
If you want to contribute to reducing the generation of this type of waste, see the our interactive guide to do so
