This year, almost 60 organisations in 35 countries on six continents are involved in the collection. The aim of this day is to raise public awareness of e-waste recycling and to encourage consumers to recycle their e-waste.
According to the UN, it is estimated that only 20% of global e-waste is recycled each year. This means that around 40 million tonnes of e-waste are landfilled, incinerated or illegally traded, despite the fact that 66% of the world's population is covered by e-waste legislation.
This results in a huge loss of valuable and critical raw materials from the supply chain and causes serious health, environmental and social problems through illegal shipments of waste to developing countries.
Pascal Leroy, director of the WEEE Forum announces that e-waste is constantly growing, making it the fastest growing waste stream in the world. It contains many valuable and hazardous materials, which need to be recovered or treated properly when disposing of waste. Recycling e-waste pays off not only for the environment, but also for industry and even for employment!
