The world now throws away about 62 million tonnes of electrical and electronic equipment a year, less than a quarter of it is documented as properly collected and recycled, and much of the rest is dumped, landfilled or taken apart by hand in ways that expose workers and children to lead, mercury and other toxic substances.
Updated October 15, 2026. Written from the sources listed below, not independently peer-reviewed.
Out of every 100 kg of e-waste generated worldwide in 2022, how many kg were documented as formally collected and recycled?
62 million tonnes
E-waste generated worldwide
An average of 7.8 kg per person, up from 34 million tonnes in 2010. On current trends the total is projected to reach 82 million tonnes in 2030.
Data year 2022. Source: International Telecommunication Union, 2024
22.3%
Share documented as formally collected and recycled
13.8 million tonnes. Under business as usual the rate is projected to fall to 20% by 2030, because generation grows faster than recycling.
Data year 2022. Source: International Telecommunication Union, 2024
81 countries (42%)
Countries with an e-waste policy, law or regulation
As of June 2023, 67 of them applied extended producer responsibility. This fell short of ITU's goal of 50% of countries by 2023.
Data year 2023. Source: International Telecommunication Union, 2024
Unit: million tonnes
* Projection, not a measurement. Values for 2010 and 2022 are estimates from the Global E-waste Monitor 2024, which rebuilt the whole time series with new country data, so figures from earlier editions are not directly comparable. The 2030 value is a business-as-usual projection, not a measurement.
SDG target 12.5 calls for substantially less waste by 2030, but e-waste generation is rising by about 2.3 million tonnes a year. ITU's goal of a 30% global collection and recycling rate by 2023 was out of reach with 22.3% in 2022, and under business as usual the rate is projected to fall to 20% by 2030. In the Monitor's most ambitious scenario, with 60% collected and recycled by 2030, the benefits would exceed the costs by over USD 38 billion.
In 2022 Europe generated 17.6 kg of e-waste per person and documented 42.8% as formally collected and recycled. Africa generated 2.5 kg per person, and only 0.7% was documented as formally recycled.
Source: International Telecommunication Union, 2024Of an estimated 5.1 million tonnes of e-waste shipped across borders in 2019, about 3.3 million tonnes (65%) moved uncontrolled from high-income countries to middle- and low-income countries.
Source: International Telecommunication Union, 2024WHO estimated in 2021 that up to 18 million children and adolescents, some as young as five, work in the informal industrial sector, of which waste processing is one part, and that as many as 12.9 million women work in the informal waste sector.
Source: World Health Organization, 2021Children and pregnant women are most vulnerable to the lead and other toxic substances released by informal recycling, including open burning, with possible effects on birth outcomes, brain development and lung function.
Source: World Health Organization, 2024Instead of one “percent solved” score, DO GOOD rates three separate dimensions. A problem can have mature solutions that still reach too few people. These ratings are an editorial reading of the sources on this page, not a measured index.
Has the situation improved in the real world?
LowE-waste generation nearly doubled from 34 to 62 million tonnes between 2010 and 2022. Documented recycling grew too, but almost five times more slowly, so the amount of unmanaged e-waste keeps rising.
How mature and validated are the available solutions?
ModerateFormal collection, recycling and producer-responsibility schemes are well established, and countries with legally binding rules reach a collection and recycling rate of about 25% on average. Recovering critical materials is far less mature: recycling meets only about 1% of demand for rare earth elements.
How widely are effective solutions actually used?
LowOnly 81 countries had an e-waste policy, law or regulation in 2023, and in Africa less than 1% of e-waste is documented as formally recycled.
Global generation is estimated with a consistent method, but informal collection and recycling is not reflected in official data, many countries report nothing, and the Monitor gives different years for its cross-border shipment figures. Estimates of how many people are exposed are rough.
E-waste is projected to reach 82 million tonnes in 2030 while the documented recycling rate falls to 20% under business as usual. New trade controls and repair rules have started too recently for their effect to show in the data.
E-waste is any discarded product with circuitry or electrical components and a power or battery supply, from phones and laptops to fridges, lamps and solar panels. The Global E-waste Monitor estimates that 62 million tonnes were generated in 2022, up from 34 million tonnes in 2010, an average rise of 2.3 million tonnes a year. Formal collection and recycling has also grown, from 8 to 13.8 million tonnes, but generation is rising almost five times faster, so only 22.3% was documented as formally collected and recycled in 2022. About 14 million tonnes were thrown away with ordinary waste, mostly into landfills, and an estimated 18 million tonnes were handled in low- and lower-middle-income countries, mainly by informal recyclers whose work rarely appears in official data. The metals in the 2022 e-waste were worth an estimated USD 91 billion, yet recycling recovered secondary materials worth only about USD 28 billion.
The harm falls mostly on people who dismantle, burn or acid-treat old electronics by hand to recover copper, gold and other materials. Informal recycling can release up to 1,000 different chemicals, including lead, and the Monitor estimates that improper handling releases 58,000 kg of mercury and 45 million kg of plastics containing brominated flame retardants every year. WHO links exposure to stillbirth and premature birth, impaired neurodevelopment and learning, and reduced lung function, with children and pregnant women most at risk. A 2021 WHO report estimated that up to 18 million children and adolescents and 12.9 million women may be at risk of health harm from this work. Rich countries generate the most e-waste per person, and some of it is shipped to poorer countries without proper controls.
SDG target 12.5 aims, by 2030, to substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse, and target 12.4 calls for sound management of chemicals and all wastes. The Global E-waste Monitor, produced by ITU and UNITAR, tracks equipment from the moment it is sold to the moment it is discarded and what happens to it then:
E-waste generated
The weight of electrical and electronic equipment that owners discard without intending to reuse it, in total and per person. It covers six categories, from large appliances and cooling equipment to screens, small IT devices, lamps and, more recently, solar panels. Batteries on their own are not counted as equipment.
Documented formal collection and recycling
The share of e-waste that official statistics record as collected and recycled in facilities meeting environmental standards. Collection and recycling by the informal sector is usually not captured, so 'not documented' does not always mean 'not recycled'.
Policy coverage
Whether a country has an e-waste policy, law or regulation, and whether it uses extended producer responsibility or sets collection and recycling targets. Having a law does not show how well it is enforced.
Transboundary movements
E-waste and used equipment shipped across borders, split into controlled shipments under waste rules and uncontrolled shipments, often declared as second-hand goods, from high-income to middle- and low-income countries.
What works
Laws that make producers pay for collecting and recycling their products fund take-back points and licensed recyclers. Of the 81 countries with e-waste rules in 2023, 67 used extended producer responsibility, and countries with legally binding instruments reached a collection and recycling rate of about 25% on average.
Limits
Even Europe, with the most developed systems, documented only 42.8% in 2022. Small devices are often thrown in household bins, and many low-income countries have no law or no means to enforce one.
What works
Since 1 January 2025, amendments to the Basel Convention require the prior informed consent of importing countries for all shipments of e-waste, including non-hazardous e-waste, not only hazardous items. Importing countries can refuse shipments they cannot manage safely.
Limits
Parties that notified non-acceptance are not bound, trade with countries outside the Convention depends on separate agreements, and used equipment can still be declared as second-hand goods. Enforcement depends on customs capacity.
What works
Keeping devices in use delays the moment they become waste. In the EU, rules applying since 31 July 2026 require manufacturers to repair products that are technically repairable under EU law, such as phones, tablets and washing machines, at a reasonable price, and the legal guarantee is extended by at least 12 months when consumers choose repair over replacement.
Limits
The rules cover only certain product groups and only the EU market. Repair is still often more expensive or slower than buying new, and the planned EU online repair platform is not expected until 2027.
What works
WHO's Initiative on E-waste and Child Health trains health workers, supports pilot projects in Latin America and Africa and helps monitor exposure, so that clinics can recognise and reduce harm in communities that live from recycling.
Limits
Health measures reduce exposure but do not change the economics that push families into burning and acid-stripping devices, and most informal sites are not monitored at all.
Promising, but not proven at scale. The stage shows how far each approach has come; it is not a recommendation.
Processes to extract rare earth elements and other scarce metals from magnets, circuit boards and batteries are being developed and tested. Today recycling meets only about 1% of demand for rare earths, and most methods are not yet economic at scale.
The EU is setting up an online platform, expected to start in 2027, to help people find repairers in each member state. Whether such tools change how often people repair rather than replace devices has not yet been measured.
Some countries and cities are testing ways to bring informal collectors into licensed systems, for example by letting them sell collected devices to certified recyclers who do the hazardous steps. Results vary, and evidence on income and health effects is limited.
Modular phones and laptops with replaceable batteries and screens, and designs that make components easy to separate, aim to extend product life and simplify recycling. They remain a small share of the market.
Implementation gap
Between 2010 and 2022 e-waste generation rose almost five times faster than formal recycling. More devices, shorter lifecycles and limited repair options keep adding to the total.
Implementation gap
Only 81 countries, 42% of the total, had an e-waste policy, law or regulation as of June 2023, and having a law does not guarantee enforcement or funding for collection.
Coordination gap
About 65% of cross-border e-waste movements were uncontrolled shipments from high-income to middle- and low-income countries, often declared as used goods. The new Basel rules depend on customs checks and on cooperation between exporting and importing countries.
Technology gap
The metals in 2022 e-waste were worth about USD 91 billion, but recycling recovered secondary materials worth only about USD 28 billion. Many critical metals, including rare earths, are barely recovered with current technology.
Knowledge gap
An estimated 18 million tonnes of e-waste are handled in low- and lower-middle-income countries, mostly by informal workers, but this work is generally not reflected in official statistics, so neither its volume nor its harms are tracked.
Knowledge gap
WHO's 2021 estimate of children and women at risk includes an unknown number of women of childbearing age, and few studies measure exposure over time. Without such data, it is hard to target health protection.
Unresolved questions, not vetted breakthroughs. Answering any of them would change what is possible.
More than three-quarters of e-waste is not recorded as formally recycled. How much is repaired and reused, recycled informally, stored in drawers, landfilled or exported is largely unknown, and better tracking methods are needed to direct policy.
Studies link informal recycling to harm in pregnancy, brain development and lung function, but how many children are exposed, at what doses, and how much disease results later in life remains uncertain.
Repair laws are new. Whether they lead people to keep devices longer, and whether that outweighs growing sales of new devices, has not yet been measured.
Which technologies can recover rare earths and other scarce metals from small, mixed devices economically and without moving pollution elsewhere is an open question for chemists, engineers and economists.
Repair a phone or laptop before replacing it, replace the battery or screen where possible, and pass on working devices to someone who can use them after wiping your personal data.
Do not put devices, cables or lamps in household waste. Use municipal collection points or retailer take-back schemes, which are required in many countries.
Check whether spare parts, repair services and take-back are offered, and consider refurbished devices.
Tell your representatives that you support repair rights, producer responsibility and proper enforcement of export rules, and support organisations working on safer conditions for informal recyclers.
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International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), March 2024, published 2024
The most recent global edition (no 2025 or 2026 global edition has been published; later UNITAR reports are national or regional). Source of the 2022 figures on e-waste generated, documented collection and recycling, regional per-capita values, residual waste, informal handling, metal values, mercury and flame-retardant releases, costs and benefits, policy coverage, cross-border shipments, the 2010 values and the 2030 projections. Full report: itu.int/en/ITU-D/Environment/Documents/Publications/2025/d-gen-e_waste.01-2024-pdf-e.pdf.
World Health Organization (WHO), 1 October 2024, published 2024
WHO summary of the health effects of informal e-waste recycling, including the release of up to 1,000 chemicals and lead, effects on birth outcomes, neurodevelopment and lung function, the vulnerability of children and pregnant women, and WHO's Initiative on E-waste and Child Health.
World Health Organization (WHO), 15 June 2021, published 2021
WHO's first global report on e-waste and child health, reviewing the evidence on informal recycling and children's health. Source of the estimates that up to 18 million children and adolescents and 12.9 million women, including an unknown number of women of childbearing age, may be at risk. The accompanying news release (who.int, 15 June 2021) adds that children as young as five work in the informal industrial sector, of which waste processing is a subsector.
Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions (UNEP), published 2025
Official explanation of the amendments adopted in 2022 (decision BC-15/18) that entered into force on 1 January 2025, making all transboundary movements of e-waste, including non-hazardous e-waste, subject to the prior informed consent procedure, and of which Parties are bound.
European Commission, 31 July 2026, published 2026
Commission news item marking the date from which the EU Directive on repair of goods (Directive (EU) 2024/1799) applies. Source of the manufacturer repair obligation, the 12-month guarantee extension, product examples and the European Online Repair Platform expected in 2027.