New Report: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on E-waste in the First Three Quarters of 2020

Without doubt, the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting human lives in many ways and is highlighting the interrelations between our environmental and societal systems. The measures taken to control the spread of the virus across society lead to a decline of economic growth, restrictions of people’s mobility, and a further need of digitisation and confinement in homes.

Many expect that the digitisation and increase of time spent at home results in an increase in consumption of electronic and electrical equipment under COVID-19, knowing that businesses are switching to home offices, providing their staff with laptops and other office equipment for home use. Schools and universities are forced to resort to homeschooling and online synchronous/asynchronous instructional methods, and schools and students have more IT equipment needs than before. Furthermore, the more time we spend at home can also mean that near-broken electronic equipment could be replaced by new equipment or that other convenient household equipment is bought, causing a shift in expenditures.

“The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on E-waste in the First Three Quarters of 2020,” is a new report published by the United Nations University (UNU) Sustainable Cycles programme (SCYCLE), Bonn, and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). Under a partnership with UNEP, the report analyses the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on E-waste by comparing the trade statistics against a “business as usual” scenario, based on monthly data of 2018 and 2019 which has been corrected for seasonal fluctuations.

In the first three quarters of 2020, the decrease of the weight of electronic and electrical products consumed, compared to a “business as usual” scenario, reduced by 6.4 percent in weight, or by 4.9 million metric tonnes (Mt). On the other hand, consumption of game consoles, cell phones, electrical ovens and laptops increased due to COVID-19 adding 0.3 Mt to the consumption of electronic and electrical equipment, and hence future e-waste generation. The increase is solely caused by high-income countries.

In fact, the reductions were 30 percent in low- and middle-income countries and only 5 percent in high-income countries. This inequality has a large social side effect: whereas the population in low- and middle-income countries is continuously growing the gap of having access to modern communication technologies and other electronics, the so-called digital divide is increasing. With that, the ability to adapt to digitisation and earn a living or simply to own and benefit from electronics is decreasing in some parts of the world. The reduction, most likely temporary, leads to less e-waste in regions where mismanagement of e-waste leads to large environmental and health damage. It is desirable that this breathing space is used to improve e-waste management in many parts of the world.

Full report from HERE