The E-waste burden on the planet

62 million tons of electronic waste were produced in 2022¹.
This includes all household appliances (washing machines, stoves, radios, calculators, electric toothbrushes, etc.) and all computer and telecommunications equipment (smartphones, phones, printers, monitors, etc.)².

Why is there so much waste? Why do we instinctively discard and replace faulty electronics, when we’re willing to invest time and effort into repairing our cars, for instance, to keep them running smoothly?

An extractivist logic

The cost of purchase is a major consideration: a car is a much bigger investment than a pair of headphones. However, some high-end smartphones and computers are so expensive that repairing them would be a more cost-effective option than replacing them. But why don’t we always prioritize repair as the most practical solution?

In connection with planned obsolescence, it is essential to understand that the economic models of electronic devices are currently based on an extractivist and linear logic. In this system, raw materials are extracted to make a product, which is then sold. After use, this product is usually thrown away, which restarts the production cycle.

In this case, the only lucrative option is to sell a new product. But how do you boost profits when the market is already saturated? For instance, if most people who can and want to buy a smartphone already own one?

One strategy to promote the consumption of new products is to make repairs complicated or costly. This is the case when certain components are welded, making it, for instance, almost impossible to repair a smartphone screen without complete disassembly, or when technical information is inaccessible to independent repairers. This approach is designed to maintain control over the repair market and steer consumers towards purchasing new products to replace their older devices.

What does this lead to?

On the commodities side, it perpetuates an extractivist logic that can ultimately prove counterproductive. For products like computers and smartphones, the amount of resources and metals required is substantial. This dependence on extraction can lead to geopolitical and supply chain complications in the medium to long term. At the other end of the process, a huge amount of untreated waste is generated, posing significant environmental and health risks.

A UN report reports that only 22% of the 62 million tons of e-waste was properly collected and recycled in 2022. That is to say, more than 48 million tons of electrical and electronic waste have not been treated. They have been burned, left in landfills or simply found in nature.

The e-waste challenge

Electronic devices contain a cocktail of hazardous substances that can harm the environment and human health if not disposed of properly, including mercury, cadmium, lead, chromium, brominated flame retardants, and other toxic chemicals.

When using the devices, these substances are not harmful, but when they are discarded and not treated properly, they are released into the environment. Inadequate management of end-of-life e-waste leads to water, soil and air contamination. In addition, the informal extraction and recycling of these materials has adverse health consequences for those involved, including damage to the nervous system and other serious health problems.

Recycling, a balance to be found

So, what can be done with all this waste? The first solution that comes to mind is recycling.
But what does recycling mean? In this context, it refers to recovering materials from waste, such as copper, gold, or other metals, and reusing them to make new products after proper processing.

This is a paradigm shift, moving from a linear system of extraction–production–waste to a circular economy. In this model, at the end of a product’s useful life, it’s disassembled, its components are recovered and fed back into the production cycle as reused raw materials, rather than being newly extracted.

The recycling sector, in this case, fulfills two roles:

• It reduces the amount of waste generated through the extraction of reusable resources
• It helps protect the environment and human health by stopping potentially toxic waste from ending up in nature.

The circular economy and recycling approach has been incorporated into some laws and policies. At its core, it’s about holding companies responsible for the pollution caused by producing, creating, and importing products that harm the environment and human health.

Although there are recycling points where it is possible to deposit e-waste, this is not the case for all countries. There are many open-air landfills for electronic waste, causing health problems, especially because of the chemical components, for the people who sort this waste. Indeed, some appliances are burned to be able to recover certain metals such as copper more easily. So the ideal is not only the recycling of all electronic and electrical waste, it is also about ensuring that the manufacturers of these devices are responsible for how this will be done.

In addition, it is important to note that, although recycling is essential, it is not without environmental impact:

• This process requires energy, which leads to some pollution.
• Materials usually cannot be recycled indefinitely. This will therefore involve a new process of extracting a new material and creating a new product.
• Not all waste can be recycled: smartphones contain around 70 different materials, including 50 types of metal. However, many of these materials are present in small quantities or are alloyed together, making it often uneconomical to extract and recycle them. As a result, only 20 of the 70 materials used, or just less than a third, are actually recycled.

Recycling is one of the solutions to ensure waste treatment, but it should only be considered at the end of the device’s life, since dismantling to recover the raw materials it contains is expensive.

Cutting waste through reuse

Before recycling, reuse comes first. This is often done via a reconditioning process, which is quite common for computers and smartphones. Rather than throwing them away and dismantling them directly, some companies repair them and put them back in near-new condition. These devices are then resold or donated, depending on the entity that carries out the refurbishment.

This process extends the useful life of the device, delays waste generation and is one of the options with a lower environmental impact. Indeed, unlike recycling, it avoids restarting a creation process from raw materials, instead renewing already existing resources.

This reuse can then concern the entire device or certain components of the device, thanks to a design intended for repair. But it depends on the willingness of the companies that create the products; They decide whether they can be easily repaired, reused or refurbished.

The e-waste problem is getting worse

While reuse and recycling are essential elements that effectively help prevent certain socio-environmental impacts, they do not address the underlying problem: business models based on the extraction and constant consumption of devices. Due to the increasing digitization of societies, this model is tending to increase: digitization of procedures and services, hosting of all the information that is generated, new technological advances such as artificial intelligence models, paradigm shift from means of transport to electric, multiplication of connected objects… The quantity and diversity of resource requirements is enormous.

Without a paradigm shift in the design of these products, by adopting a more circular and sustainable approach, reuse and recycling alone will not be enough to curb the exponential growth of waste on a global scale. It is imperative to rethink our creative process to ensure a sustainable future. Indeed, at the moment, the production of electronic waste is alarming, it is increasing five times faster than the amount of waste recycled.

We can make a difference in reducing e-waste

As consumers, we can act to reduce the environmental impact and generate electronic waste.

• Become aware of our own consumption of electronic objects, their frequency of use, their origin. What are the consumption habits of electronic devices do we have? How many years do I usually keep my smartphone?
• Reject unnecessary consumption and resist the temptation of buying a new model unless it’s truly needed.
• Reduce our consumption: consider a dual SIM phone instead of multiple devices. And if you have unused devices, consider selling or giving them away instead of buying new ones. This allows us to optimize the use of our devices and reduce our consumption.
• Reuse electronics: an unused device in a drawer could be very valuable to someone who needs it. By giving it away or selling it, we avoid the creation of a new tool for this person. If I need a device myself that I will only use rarely, then I can borrow or rent it. For example, a developer friend had to create an iPhone app, but he didn’t have a Mac. Instead of buying one just for this project, he rented one for the period he had to work.
• Buy products that can be fixed. When a device breaks, fix it instead of replacing it. Especially if the problem is with the battery or a fault in a component, rather than a drop in performance. Sustainable purchasing can lead to a more sustainable lifestyle.
• Maintain your devices: by taking care of our objects, putting a protective film on a smartphone, avoiding drinking coffee over a computer, or regularly cleaning the software and devices themselves, we extend the life of our devices. Negligence can lead to unnecessary e-waste. The maintenance of our objects is essential, because it goes hand in hand with repair, aiming to extend their useful life.
• Promote refurbishment: this involves donating our old devices to companies that refurbish them for resale, or choosing refurbished devices when purchasing. Devices that have been refurbished by certified entities are often sold at a lower price than their brand-new counterparts.

The key thing is to ask ourselves what kind of consumption and use patterns we have, and how we can extend the life of our devices. We all have a role to play – whether as consumers, working in electronics production, or in software development.

1. United Nations (2024): https://news.un.org/fr/story/2024/03/1144341 ↩︎
2. See the ITU’s Global E-waste Monitor 2024 report for more information: https://www.itu.int/hub/publication/d-gen-e_waste-01-2024/ ↩︎