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Humanity is approaching at an astonishing pace about 8000 million people on the entire planet. it is expected that There are currently about 16 billion mobile phones in the world., which means that each person, on average, will own two mobile devices. Of all these phones, experts calculate that in 2022 alone, more than 5,000 million of them will end up or be stored in a drawer, which in the first case could be a huge problem due to the large amount of hazardous materials they are in. for the environment.
“Smartphones are one of the most important electronic products to us,” he explains. Pascal LeroyCEO of WEEE Foruma non-profit association representing 46 organizations that manages the recycling of this type of waste, known as e-waste.
Although they contain gold, copper, silver, palladium and other high-value recyclable components, once the useful life of these products has passed, they are likely to end up being discarded or incinerated, which can cause serious damage to health and the environment. On the other hand, not recovering this type of material, and even other hard-to-obtain materials, known as rare earths, It could mean that in the future we will have to get them from countries like China, Congo or others where environmental protection legislation is, at best, too lax. All this plus the additional problem of relying on other economies to obtain certain items that seem necessary for the future.
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Other devices, on the contrary, according to a survey conducted in 6 European countries between June and September 2022, will be kept in homes rather than thrown in the garbage, this is according to a WEEE Forum report, On average, up to 5 kilograms of e-waste accumulates per person in European homes.
According to Leroy, “People tend not to realize that all these seemingly insignificant elements are of great value and that combined at the global level represent huge amounts, which is why legislation is so important.” In this sense, in October 2022 the European Parliament approved a new law that standardizes the charger for all smartphones, tablets and cameras from the end of 2024. Thus, the obligation to use USB-C is expected for all these devices. In saving nearly €200 million and reducing e-waste generated each year in the European Union by more than 1,000 metric tons.
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How to get rare earth from landfill
according to sack sackSenior Scientific Specialist, United Nations Institute for Training and Research –UNITAR– , legislation in Europe, where 50-55% of e-waste is currently recycled, has resulted in the highest e-waste collection rates in the world.
However, much of this waste often ends up in low-income countries, where tons of e-waste are received each year from the most developed countries, and where in many cases the recycling rate is not even 5%. The real challenge for the future, according to Leroy, is to move the recycling model to less developed countries, because without adequate measures in the next 30 years, the amount of e-waste could double.
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E-waste dangers
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