Study: Electrical waste costing UK £370m in lost valuable raw materials each year

Roughly a third of the 1.45 million tonnes of electrical waste produced by UK households and businesses was either lost, thrown away, hoarded or stolen last year, costing the economy more than £370m of lost valuable raw materials and metals, new research indicates.

A study published by waste electronics and electricals non-profit Material Focus yesterday reveals that just 915,000 tonnes of old electronics and electrical equipment - including phones, laptops, TVs and radios - were sent for reuse and recycling last year in the UK.

That means around 500,000 tonnes of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) containing potentially valuable metals such as gold, copper, aluminium and steel were either going to waste or not being utilised, costing the UK economy hundreds of millions of pounds each year, it said.

Around 155,000 tonnes is estimated to have been thrown away in domestic bins for incineration or landfill, with another 145,000 tonnes ending up in skips with no evidence it is then recycled, the study estimates. Another 114,000 tonnes was recorded as stolen and an estimated 32,000 tonnes was illegally exported.

The research, which was carried out by consultancy Anthesis alongside Lancaster University and electricals recycling compliance schemes Repic and Valpac, provides a "robust inventory" of the flow of electrical products and waste in the UK, according to Material Focus.

Moreover, the study suggests consumer hunger for new electricals is rapidly growing far beyond the need for mere replacements for old gadgets and equipment, with more than 200,000 tonnes of additional large and small electricals being used in the UK every year.

The impact of surging demand for electricals and the failure to reuse or recycle old equipment and raw materials is not only costing the economy, but also generating around 2.8 million tonnes of CO2 emissions each year, roughly equating to the climate impact of roughly 1.3 million cars driving on the roads, the non-profit said.

Scott Butler, executive director at Material Focus, said the study findings showed far more needed to be done ensure valuable materials from electricals are not simply thrown to waste.

"The focus of our recently launched ‘Recycle Your Electricals' campaign is to encourage more UK householders to stop throwing away and instead recycle or reuse their small unwanted electricals," he said. "In addition we will continue to invest in research to help the industry and policy makers understand more about where and how these household and business electricals are being lost, and we hope that the research can inform future actions to prevent this loss."

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• Topics
• Waste
• material focus
• WEEE
• Waste electrical and electronic equipment
• reycling
• electronic waste
• e-waste