MicroScope+ Premium Content/MicroScope

E-waste is one of the world’s fastest growing waste streams, with 53.6 million metric tonnes of global e-waste generated in 2019 alone, the equivalent weight of 350 cruise ships. It’s constantly mounting up. We’re all guilty of contributing to the problem – it’s estimated that the average person upgrades their mobile phone about every two and a half years, while businesses typically upgrade IT hardware every three to five years. This equates to a huge volume of redundant IT hardware in a relatively short space of time and, when not disposed of correctly, its toxic substances can cause serious harm to the environment as well as human health. This is an issue we cannot afford to ignore any longer. The pandemic and the subsequent mass adoption of remote working has exacerbated the global e-waste challenge. Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) across Western Europe saw a significant fall in demand for desktop computers last year, leaving distributors with high levels of unused stock. This was reflected in our own experience – at ...