Oleg Zaitsev strides across a factory floor in Almaty, Kazakhstan as a row of workers sort through old circuit boards and worn televisions. The 59-year-old is the managing director of a company that recycles used electronics.
“Hazardous materials in electronic scrap can contaminate soil and water, affecting the environment and food security,” said Zaitsev, whose company is part of the Alliance for Circular Electronics in Central Asia, a partner of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). “Proper recycling processes can mitigate these risks.”
Zaitsev is on the frontlines of a global effort to blunt what experts call a tidal wave of pollution coming from discarded computers, cell phones and other electronic waste. This rubbish, which is laden with toxic chemicals like lead and mercury, can pollute land, sea and air, causing everything from developmental delays to stillbirths, says the World Health Organization. The toll is especially heavy in the developing world, which for decades has been a dumping ground for electronics from developed countries.
To counter the mounting threat of electronic waste, countries and businesses need to overhaul how electronics are designed, manufactured, recycled and, ultimately, disposed of, say experts.
“Governments and the industry can seize the economic opportunity to reduce the growing concerns about human and environmental exposure to pollution from the electronics life cycle," said Sheila Aggarwal-Khan, Director of UNEP's Industry and Economy Division. “Solutions that encourage the design of durable products that can be reused, refurbished and recycled are a profitable, innovative way forward that is valued by consumers and has a reduced environmental impact.”
Humanity produces 62 million tonnes of electronic waste every year, enough to fill 1.5 million transport trucks, making it one of the world’s fastest-growing waste streams, found a 2024 UN report. Less than a quarter of that is properly recycled, leaving mountains of electronics to rot away in unregulated dumpsites, where they can leach chemicals into the soil and water-table.
Poor electronic waste management practices cause US$78 billion in externalized costs to human health and the environment each year. They also contribute to climate change, including when hazardous substances, like refrigerants, are mishandled and released into the atmosphere.
But recycling alone won’t be enough to deal with the e-waste surge, experts say. On the back of an explosion of demand for consumer electronics, global e-waste production has grown five times faster than formal recycling rates since 2010. That’s why experts say so-called “upstream” solutions are critical.
By enforcing product design regulations, countries can promote design for continuous reuse of electronic products, for example through refurbishment and reassembly, and spur circularity by requiring producers to use recycled mineral content. Nations can also develop extended producer responsibility programmes, which make electronics producers responsible for the end-of-life management of their products, including taking components back into the production system.
These measures can incentivize businesses to innovate while facilitating the right of consumers to repair and refurbish their electronics, keeping them away from landfills as long as possible, experts say.
Any electronics that can no longer be reused or repurposed, Aggarwal-Khan said, should be managed in formal electronic waste facilities to recover as many raw materials as possible.
Investment in collection and recycling infrastructure could generate US$38 billion in annual economic benefits by 2030, including by improving human health, protecting valuable ecosystems and spurring the recycling industry, finds a report by the UN Institute for Training and Research and the International Telecommunication Union.
These actions can trigger far-reaching benefits, extending the lifespan of electronics, reducing demand for newer products and lessening the environmental burden of manufacturing, ultimately creating a greener technology industry.
Global collaboration is also essential, say experts, as electronic waste is a transboundary issue that disproportionately affects middle- and low-income countries.
High-income countries sent some 3.3 billion kilograms of e-waste and used electronics to middle- and low-income countries through uncontrolled transboundary movements in 2022.
On 1 January, an amendment to the Basel Convention, an international treaty regulating the transboundary movement and disposal of hazardous waste, came into effect, which could alter the electronic-waste landscape.
Parties to the convention—including 190 countries and the European Union—must now seek prior informed consent before transporting electronics and electronic waste to other countries.
“This amendment represents a landmark step in reducing the environmental and health impacts of e-waste,” says Rolph Payet, Executive Secretary of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions. "While the amendment is an important step, success is contingent on parties to the Basel Convention meeting their commitments and promoting cooperation at all levels.”
Back in Kazakhstan, Zaitsev is hard at work developing strategies to bolster electronic waste recycling and improve efficiency. With electronics flowing in from industrial enterprises, telecommunications companies and small-scale collectors, his New Capital Company has no shortage of e-waste to recycle. Zaitsev said he’s “cautiously optimistic about the future. In Kazakhstan, only 9 per cent of electronic waste in the country is recycled, according to UN data.
“Addressing e-waste is important to me because it combines environmental protection with economic opportunity,” he said “It is not just about business, but also about creating a sustainable future for our communities and the planet.”
#BeatPollution is a UNEP campaign to stop the pervasive impact of pollution on people and the planet's health. The campaign drives rapid, large-scale and coordinated action for a cleaner, healthier and more sustainable future. Campaign activities show the impact of pollution on climate, nature and biodiversity, and health, and offer a platform to inspire thriving circular economies and enable the transition to a pollution-free planet.
