How "Invisible" E-Waste Such As Discarded Vapes Annually Equal Six Eiffel Towers In Weight

If the "invisible" category of e-waste generated is kept in one place, it would equal the weight of almost half a million 40-tonne trucks, enough to form a 5,640 km bumper-to-bumper line of trucks from Rome to Nairobi.

This data has been computed by the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) to calculate the annual quantities of "invisible" e-waste items in millions of kilograms, in millions of pieces, and in kg and pieces per capita.

What is "invisible" e-waste and is it different from e-waste in general?

What is "invisible" e-waste?

E-waste, defined simply, refers to electronic products that are unwanted, not working, and nearing or at the end of their "useful life."

The term "invisible e-waste" refers to e-waste that goes unnoticed due to its nature or appearance, leading consumers to overlook its recyclable potential, according to a study published by the The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Forum.

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Such invisible e-waste amounts to nine billion kilograms per year.

Which are the major devices that come under "invisible" e-waste?

The study conducted by UNITAR calculated the amount of invisible e-waste in varied categories:

1. E-toys E-toys consisting of race car sets, electric trains, music toys, talking dolls and other robotic figures, biking computers, drones, etc make up some 3.2 billion kg of e-waste. This makes up for 35 per cent of the roughly 9 billion kilograms of e-waste generated yearly.

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2. Vaping devices An estimated 844 million vaping devices each year amount to a mountain of e-waste equal to three times the weight of New York¡¯s Brooklyn Bridge or six Eiffel Towers.

Vaping devices create waste equal to weight of six Eiffel Towers

3. Cables The study also found that 950 million kg of cables containing precious, easily recyclable copper were discarded last year -- enough cable to circle the earth 107 times.

Other examples of common, invisible e-waste items in households include toothbrushes, shavers, external drives and accessories, headphones and earbuds, remote controls, speakers, LED lights, power tools, household medical equipment, heat and smoke detectors, etc.

Why are these invisible e-wastes being discarded instead of being recycled?

Invisible e-waste goes unnoticed due to its nature or appearance.

While some people put aside such e-waste for potential use in the future, others do not realise they could even be recycled.

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As Pascal Leroy, Director-General of the WEEE Forum, says: "People tend to recognise household electrical products as those they plug in and use regularly. But many people are confused about the waste category into which ancillary, peripheral, specialist, hobby, and leisure products fit and how to have them recycled."

"Sadly, invisible e-waste often falls under the recycling radar of those disposing of them because they are not seen as e-waste. We need to change that and raising awareness is a large part of the answer," Magdalena Charytanowicz of WEEE Forum said.

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