Garbage or Urban Mine? Electronic Waste in the Energy Transition
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Garbage or Urban Mine? Electronic Waste in the Energy Transition

Photo by:   Eirik Solheim - Unsplash
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Eliza Galeana By Eliza Galeana | Junior Journalist & Industry Analyst - Mon, 10/24/2022 - 16:11

The Global E-Waste Monitor, part of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), estimates that 5.3 billion cell phones will be discontinued this year, a largely unexploited urban mine that could be used to develop technologies such as solar panels, wind turbines and electric vehicle batteries.

Dr. Kees Baldé, UNITAR Sustainable Cycles Program Specialist and Lead Researcher behind the Global E-Waste Monitor stated that the mineral extraction, refining and processing involved in the production of a mobile phone account for 80 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions that occur over the product’s lifetime. Furthermore, the vast majority of devices end up in landfills, which represents a dangerous pollution problem.

According to Dr. Baldé, at a global scale, only 17 percent of e-waste is recycled. In the EU, the e-waste recovery rate is 55 percent, significantly higher than in the rest of the world, partly due to decades of legislation in the matter. "Legislation provides financial incentives for consumers and companies to develop appropriate collection systems that ensure recovered devices reach compatible channels for their recycling ... For the first time in history, growth in e-waste collection has been faster than the growth of the e-waste mountain in the EU," Baldé said in a Bloomberg interview.

Electronics disposal represents the waste of large amounts of metals and minerals, such as gold, copper, silver, palladium and other valuable components for the clean energy industry. Current green technologies such as photovoltaic cells, wind turbines, electric vehicles and storage systems require more minerals for their construction than energy produced with fossil fuels.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA) 2021 report, “Minerals in the Clean Energy Transition,'' total demand for minerals, such as copper, will increase 40 percent, between 60-70 percent for nickel and cobalt and almost 90 percent for lithium over the next two decades. IEA states that photovoltaics alone will be responsible for 87 percent of the increased demand for aluminum, while wind power will be responsible for increasing copper demand by 11 percent. This accounts for 160 million tons of aluminum and 20 million tons of copper by 2050.

Ruediger Kuehr, Director, UNITAR’s office in Bonn, said that global e-waste could double to 100 million tons or more over the next 30 years. Therefore, governments are required to take the necessary measures to address this issue in a sustainable manner. 

Photo by:   Eirik Solheim - Unsplash

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