UN agencies to help track e-waste worldwide

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UN agencies are starting to work together to track and help deal with a soaring amount of electronic wastes worldwide, the International Telecommunication Union (ITS) said on Wednesday.

In light of the fact that responsible disposal of electronic waste, or e-waste, remains a challenge for many countries, the ITS, the United Nations University, and the International Solid Waste Association have formed the Global e-Waste Statistics Partnership to improve and collect worldwide e-waste statistics.

The amount of e-waste is growing rapidly and most of it have not been properly documented or treated through appropriate recycling chains and methods.

According to the UN Environment Program, up to 50 million tons of e-waste are expected to be dumped in 2017, a 20 percent increase from 2015.

Aluminium chips from residential-use electronics are collected in Tokyo. /VCG Photo

This newly formed Global e-Waste Statistics Partnership will support countries to produce reliable and comparable e-waste statistics, deliver capacity building workshops and raise visibility on the importance of tracking and managing e-waste.

"ITS has a track record of providing the world with the most reliable and trustworthy ICC-related data," said ITS Secretary-General Hour Zhao.

Measuring e-waste is an important step towards tackling it, as statistics help to evaluate development over time, set and assess targets, and also identify best practices of policies.

E-waste are increasing rapidly recently . /VCG Photo

Better e-waste data also helps minimize its generation, prevent illegal dumping, promote recycling, and create jobs in reuse, refurbishment and recycling sectors, which will contribute to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, in particular, to ensuring "sustainable consumption and production patterns."

"Better statistics will inform policy making to minimize the generation of e-waste, prevent illegal dumping, promote recycling and create valuable jobs in the reuse, refurbishment and recycling sectors," said Brahma Sand, Director of ITS Telecommunication Development Bureau.

"This will also contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal 12, which seeks to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns," he added.

(Source: Xinhua)