As electronic devices become increasingly common in the world around us, so too is the waste that these devices end up becoming once they are thrown away. Throwing away your old device is something that you don’t really think about doing, but with all of that having been said and now out of the way it is important to note that about 53.6 million tons of waste is produced each year, and some countries out there are contributing to this a great deal more than others.
The amount of electronic waste being produced has increased by 21% over the half decade or so that has just passed so it is important to look at the biggest contributors because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up allowing these countries to change their ways. The biggest contributor to global electronic waste is China which produced about 10.1 million tons of it over the past year, but this number on its own is a bit deceptive since China has the largest population in the world as well.
If you look at it on a per capita basis, Chinese people produce about 7.2 kilograms of electronic waste per person. This is a lot less than countries like Norway where the average person ends up generating about 26 kilos of electronic waste. The vast majority of European, Anglophone and Scandinavian countries produce more than 20 kilos of waste per capita, which means that these countries are also massively culpable in the creation of this waste.
Steps need to be taken in order to reduce how much waste ends up being produced, but these steps can only be taken after the various countries of the world come to terms with how much they are contributing to this sort of thing in the first place.
H/T: Statista.
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The amount of electronic waste being produced has increased by 21% over the half decade or so that has just passed so it is important to look at the biggest contributors because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up allowing these countries to change their ways. The biggest contributor to global electronic waste is China which produced about 10.1 million tons of it over the past year, but this number on its own is a bit deceptive since China has the largest population in the world as well.
If you look at it on a per capita basis, Chinese people produce about 7.2 kilograms of electronic waste per person. This is a lot less than countries like Norway where the average person ends up generating about 26 kilos of electronic waste. The vast majority of European, Anglophone and Scandinavian countries produce more than 20 kilos of waste per capita, which means that these countries are also massively culpable in the creation of this waste.
Steps need to be taken in order to reduce how much waste ends up being produced, but these steps can only be taken after the various countries of the world come to terms with how much they are contributing to this sort of thing in the first place.
Read next: Survey shows Apple is one of the most innovative and consumer-oriented companies
