US and China mostly to blame for dumping of e-waste

The United States and China contributed most to record mountains of electronic waste such as mobile phones, hair dryers and fridges in 2014 and less than a sixth ended up recycled worldwide, a UN study said.

Overall, 41.8m tonnes of “e-waste”— defined as any device with an electric cord or battery— were dumped around the globe in 2014 and only an estimated 6.5m tonnes were taken for recycling, the United Nations University (UNU) said.

“Worldwide, e-waste constitutes a valuable ‘urban mine’, a large potential reservoir of recyclable materials,” said David Malone, the UN under-secretary-general and rector of UNU.