The ‘small’ Big Problem
We are facing a major problem, but nobody is paying attention to it because it is too small.
I am talking about the small electronics becoming e-waste. Small electronics like chargers, sensors, toys, cables, etc. are everywhere these days, and they’re not getting recycled.
A new study claims:
“The weight of all the vapes tossed out annually across the world equals three Brooklyn Bridges, it estimates. Altogether, vapes and other small consumer items considered “invisible” weigh in at 9 billion kilograms (9 million metric tons) a year. That’s like half a million dump trucks worth of electric toothbrushes, ugly holiday sweaters adorned with LEDs, drones, and other small electronics. Lined up bumper to bumper, those trucks would span from Nairobi to Rome.”
What’s lost when we don’t recycle those invisible electronics?
Roughly $9.5 billion in materials — primarily iron, copper, and gold — that could have been recovered in 2019 alone, according to WEEE Forum. Copper-laden cables discarded in 2022 could have wrapped around the world 107 times.
Demand for copper, important for renewable energy, electric vehicles, and more, is expected to skyrocket going forward, while we are ignoring the sources at our very feet.
