Electronic waste is a growing problem in Latin America, according to the UN

Latin America is far behind the rest of the world in the proper collection and management of electronic waste, according to the first study on this problem carried out by the UN and which reveals that, in 2019, 13 countries in the region generated 1.3 megatons of this type of waste.

The study, prepared by the Sustainable Cycles (SCYCLE) program of the United Nations University (UNU) and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), estimates that only 3% of this electronic waste is properly managed in the countries of the region.

A percentage that is well below the world average of 17.4%.

The report, which studies the management of electronic waste in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela, stresses that almost a third of electronic waste is plastic, which is a serious and potential problem for health and the environment.

Only in 2019, the countries analyzed generated 380,000 tons of plastic from electronic waste. Of this amount, 31,000 tons contained Bromine Flame Retardants (BRF), a highly toxic product suspected of causing neurobehavioral and endocrine disorders.

Hazardous materials included in this e-waste also include some 2,200 kilograms of mercury, 600 kilograms of cadmium, 4.4 million kilograms of lead, 4 million kilograms of brominated flame retardants, and 5.6 megatonnes of gases that cause The greenhouse effect.

In addition to its danger, waste represents a lost economic opportunity because, although some of the discarded materials are informally recycled, the region’s landfills are the final destination of thousands of tons of valuable components.

Kees Baldé, one of the authors of the study and a UN representative, explained to Efe that the electronic waste of the 13 countries analyzed contains 7,000 kilograms of gold, 310 kilograms of rare earth metals, 519 million kilograms of iron, 54 million kilos of copper and 91 million kilograms of aluminum.

Baldé estimated at 1,700 million dollars the value of these materials that end up in landfills and garbage dumps.

And the problem is growing. If in 2010 the region generated an average of 4.7 kilograms of electronic waste per inhabitant, in 2019, when the population of the 13 countries stood at 206 million people, the figure rose to 6.7 kilograms.

This represents a 142% increase in e-waste generation over a decade, underscoring the study’s claim that e-waste is “one of the fastest growing physical waste streams in the world today and a threat to sustainable development.”

Carlos Hernández, project coordinator for the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), who participated in drafting the study, told EFE that it is “the first x-ray” of the situation in the region, which makes the study “an baseline that will allow monitoring” of progress in the future.

For her part, Michelle Wagner, from UNITAR’s SCYCLE program and another of the authors of the study, told Efe that there is a growing “local monitoring” effort on the issue of electronic waste that will allow “creating more efficient strategies” in the future. (I)