The World’s Titanic-Sized Electronic Waste Problem

In 2019, the global economy generated 53.6 million metric tons of electronic waste. That’s the equivalent of about 2,272 Titanic-sized ocean liners, or one Titanic’s worth of e-waste produced every four hours. Of the year’s total e-waste, less than one-fifth (17.4%) was safely recycled, according to the 2020 Global E-Waste Monitor, a joint project of the International Telecommunication Union, the United Nations’ Sustainable Cycles Programme and the International Solid Waste Association. As for the rest, most of it probably ended up in landfills, and some was informally recycled, which likely exposed workers to toxic materials. And that can lead to cancers, miscarriages and neurological damage. If the global economy remains on its current trajectory, e-waste will hit 120 million metric tons per year by 2050, according to the UN. Given the scope of the e-waste problem, tech brands are ramping up their efforts to address it. Those efforts take the form of improved repairability and modular construction, advances in recycling technology and easier consumer access to electronics recycling. But these actions must keep pace with production if they’re to truly cut down on the amount of e-waste generated. Meeting consumers at their doorsteps One factor keeping recycling rates low is a lack of consumer access and knowledge, according to Jessica Long, sustainable investment firm Closed Loop Partners’ managing director and chief strategy officer. People think about their electronic devices differently than they do furniture or clothing. Smart tech often includes personal data that should be responsibly wiped. Smartphones have also come to feel almost like appendages, leading many to stash them in drawers long after they’ve been replaced by newer models. Closed Loop Partners is working with e-waste recycling startup Retrievr to pilot a program in Denver with Amazon, Apple, Dell Technologies, Google and Microsoft to make it easier for consumers to recycle their electronics. Retrievr, led by e-waste recycling veteran Kabira Stokes, launched with a doorstep pickup program in Philadelphia to identify and address barriers to e-waste recycling. “It's a lot of very specific testing to see how can we get folks to recycle their electronics,” Stokes said. “Most people do not think of it as waste. There's this sort of blind spot.” That’s where brand involvement can really help, she added. If brands communicated with consumers about proper end-of-life treatment for products from the moment of purchase, it could lead to less confusion when it's time to get rid of those items. Designing for repairability One of the simplest ways to extend the lifespan of electronics is to fix them when they break rather than throwing them out or replacing them. That’s the message behind a growing “right to repair” movement, led by The Repair Association and public interest research groups, which argues that brands should be required to make repair guides public. For some products, repairability requires fundamental design changes. Many electronics manufacturers use adhesive and hard-to-reach screws to fuse the pieces together, making it impossible for users—or professionals, for that matter—to open them up and replace a broken or worn out part. Through a program called Concept Luna, Dell Technologies developed a fully modular and repairable laptop. Unveiled in December, the proof-of-concept device was designed to eliminate e-waste. While it’s not something that consumers can go out and buy yet (and currently, there are no details on if and when it will be available), it aims to lay the groundwork for more repair-friendly designs. Moving toward a circular economy “takes radical rethinking” and collaboration across the industry, said Page Motes, Dell Technologies’ head of global sustainability. iPhone, meet robot In Austin, Texas, Apple has a Materials Recovery Lab developing specialized disassembly machines. The result is a pair of robots named Daisy and Dave that take iPhones apart so each piece can be recycled, including rare earth metals and recyclable materials like copper and aluminum. At 200 iPhones per hour, Daisy could theoretically dismantle 1.2 million phones per year. Still, the world would require 200 of the elaborate robotic machines to match Apple’s output of new products. (The company sold around 240 million iPhones in 2021, according to market research firm Gartner.) While the precision of Apple’s robots is a huge improvement from the crude chopping and sifting of traditional e-waste recycling, scaling it would be expensive. It’s also hard to imagine that specialized disassembly machines for each brand and type of electronic device would be a viable solution to addressing e-waste at the hundreds of materials-recovery facilities in the U.S. alone. Upcycling returns Headphones brand Skullcandy began its own journey to address e-waste more recently, starting with all the items consumers return to retailers after purchase. Returned items often end up in landfills, leading to an estimated 9.6 billion pounds of waste across industries, according to retail returns services company Optoro. Working with Cali Resources, Skullcandy began collecting its returns in 2019. The recycler inspects them to ensure items in good condition are returned to market, while damaged items are disassembled and recycled. The brand claims it has diverted 458,480 pounds of e-waste from landfills through the program so far, with a goal of 1 million pounds by 2025. Initially, Skullcandy worried about hurting the brand by putting used products back on the shelves, said Jessica Klodnicki, Skullcandy’s chief marketing officer. Instead, the brand's demonstrable commitment to sustainability resonated with fans. “The reality was, it's great for the brand, great for the planet, and we're able to keep those products in use,” she said.

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The World’s Titanic-Sized Electronic Waste Problem Is Only Getting Bigger

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Kathryn Lundstrom

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Kathryn Lundstrom