By Faridat Salifu
While the global conversation on electronic waste increasingly highlights recycling technology and circular economy models, developing countries continue to face the harshest consequences of the world’s growing e-waste crisis.
According to the Global E-waste Monitor 2024, global electronic waste rose to 62 million tonnes in 2022 and is expected to reach 82 million tonnes by 2030 — but nearly 80 percent of it is neither formally collected nor recycled.
Much of this unprocessed waste ends up in low- and middle-income countries, where weak regulations and limited recycling infrastructure force workers to handle hazardous materials under unsafe conditions.
In many African and South American cities, informal workers dismantle discarded phones, televisions, and computers using rudimentary tools, exposing themselves to mercury, lead, and brominated flame retardants.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) warns that such exposure can cause respiratory illness, neurological damage, and long-term environmental pollution from contaminated soil and groundwater.
Despite the health risks, the informal e-waste sector provides income for thousands of people in regions with few alternatives for employment.
Experts say the global recycling system is “deeply unequal,” as most e-waste is generated in wealthy nations but often exported to poorer countries for disposal or recovery.
In 2022 alone, undocumented e-waste flows were estimated to contain 45 tonnes of mercury and 79 kilotonnes of brominated plastics, much of it processed in unregulated conditions, the report noted.
While Europe recycles more than half of its electronic waste, Africa and South America recover less than two percent, revealing a sharp divide in global waste management capacity.
Environmental analysts argue that bridging this gap will require not just technology, but fair investment and accountability from producers and importing nations.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that formalizing e-waste recycling could create millions of green jobs if supported by training, regulation, and fair trade practices.
Experts are calling for extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws that make manufacturers financially and legally accountable for the end-of-life management of their products.
They also urge multinational companies to partner with governments and local entrepreneurs to build safe recycling hubs and introduce take-back programs in emerging markets.
Without such efforts, UNEP warns that e-waste will continue to accumulate in landfills and informal dumps across the Global South, exacerbating pollution, inequality, and climate risks.
“The world cannot call it progress when some nations bear the profit, and others bear the poison,” said one environmental policy expert involved in the report.
Source: Global E-waste Monitor 2024 (UNITAR, ITU, UNU); UNEP; ILO.
