Australian Atheists Forum

We're creating electronic waste almost five times faster than we're recycling it using documented methods, according to a United Nations report released on Wednesday.

And the economic impact is significant. While e-waste recycling has benefits estimated to include $23 billion of monetized value from avoided greenhouse gas emissions and $28 billion of recovered materials like gold, copper, and iron, it also comes at a cost – $10 billion associated with e-waste treatment and $78 billion of externalized costs to people and the environment.

Overall, this puts the net annual economic monetary cost of e-waste at $37 billion. And this is expected to reach $40 billion by 2030 if improvements in e-waste management and policies aren't made.