Johannesburg - There is likely one stashed in your drawer or maybe in the garage, cupboard or closet - an old cellphone long forgotten, but part of a global problem.
Across the globe 5.3 billion cellphones will drop out of use and end up in draws, closets and landfills.
Yesterday was International E-Waste Day and to highlight what a problem e-waste is becoming, the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Forum (WEEE) provided some astonishing figures about those forgotten gadgets that owners have hoarded away.
Back to the forgotten 5.3 billion smartphones. If they were stacked up on top of each other they would rise 50 000km above the Earth. That is 120 times higher than the International Space Station.
Another e-waste product that ends up with the dust bunnies in the bottom of cupboards are airplugs.
By 2026 all these defunct earbuds, if collected and strung together will stretch around the moon three times, according to the Global e-Waste Monitor.
“These devices offer many important resources that can be used in the production of new electronic devices or other equipment, such as wind turbines, electric car batteries or solar panels – all crucial for the green, digital transition to low-carbon societies,” said Magdalena Charytanowicz of the WEEE Forum in charge of International E-Waste Day, in a statement.
It is estimated, according to government figures, that South Africa produces about 360 000 tons of e-waste a year. Gauteng accounts for just over 55% of the total.
And as with so many other countries South Africa has an e-waste problem and is missing out on an opportunity.
Keith Anderson, chairperson of the E-Waste Association of South Africa (EWASA), explains:
“We need to stop exporting our e-waste to the rest of the world for treatment, because we are just giving away valuable materials. We should be treating them in the country to recover the gold, silver, copper, and so forth.”
This e-waste usually finds its way to the Far East and Europe.
While there is cash in old electronics another problem according to Anderson is that South Africans are ignorant of the dangers that come from not disposing of e-waste properly.
“A lot of people still don't understand the dangers contained in e-waste and the safe disposal. So, people are dumping batteries in the dustbin or taking washing machines to the landfill site and don’t realise the amount of heavy metals contained in various electronic goods.”
But efforts are being made to educate the public about e-waste and its proper disposal. EWASA has educational initiatives and awareness programmes.
These include engaging with schools.
“So if you watch this space in the next six months, you'll see a significant increase in education and awareness programmes,” says Anderson.
Also new legislation is helping too.
The new extended producer responsibility regulations, that came into effect in November last year now places the responsibility on the importer or manufacturer of the electric or electronic product to take ownership of the product through to the end of its life cycle.
But the problem that many countries have is trying to get their citizens to give up those electrical and electronic goods they continue to hold on too.
A survey of 8 775 European households in six countries, conducted by the WEE Forum found the average home contained 74 e-products. Of these 13 were being hoarded.
The hoarded product are what are termed small consumer electronics and accessories such as headphones and TV remote controls. It is those small gadgets that the WEEE Forum wanted to highlight for this International E Waste Day.
“We focussed this year on small e-waste items because it is very easy for them to accumulate unused and unnoticed in households, or to be tossed into the ordinary garbage bin. People tend not to realise that all these seemingly insignificant items have a lot of value, and together at a global level represent massive volumes,” said Pascal Leroy, Director General of the WEEE Forum, in a statement.
“Providing collection boxes in supermarkets, pick-up of small broken appliances upon delivery of new ones and offering PO Boxes to return small e-waste are just some of the initiatives introduced to encourage the return of these items.”
And while that pile of disused cellphones continues to grow, Anderson believes that even though there is good legislation out there to sort out e-waste, it comes down to implementation.
“I think, at last count, 40% of the world’s population is governed by some form of legislation pertaining to the safe treatment and disposal of electronic waste. But yet, we are still struggling to achieve recycling numbers greater than 50%. So legislation is one thing but it has to be enforced.”