E-waste is a growing problem worldwide. Mining our old gadgets for scarce minerals might be part of the solution. Electronics ditched around the world in 2021 weighed some 57.4 mn tonnes — outweighing the Great Wall of China. The figure is expected to rise nearly 30% to 74 mn tonnes by 2030. And as key elements used in the production of many electronics become more scarce, electronic waste (e-waste) poses a major environmental problem.

E-waste collection is still dismally low: Not even 20% of global e-waste — from smartphones to fridges, TVs and kettles — is currently collected for recycling, according to the BBC. The rest largely ends up in landfill. Total e-waste is estimated to be worth some USD 62.5 bn, according to a 2019 World Economic Forum report. That means we’re throwing away some USD 50 bn annually in the form of e-waste.

Exacerbating the problem: Tech with short life spans + the rapid pace of development. Some electronics manufacturers deliberately design products to have short lifespans and limited options for repair to spur sales (a phenomenon known as ‘planned obsolescence.’) In other cases, better products are arriving on the market all the time. “Fast mobile phone development, for example, has led to a market dependency on rapid replacement of older devices,” Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Forum Director-General Pascal Leroy told the BBC.

The upshot: We could run out of the elements used in smartphone manufacturing. Silver, arsenic, and indium — a component of transistors, microchips and solar panels — are among the dozens of materials used in electronics that are becoming increasingly scarce as demand for technology rises.

The global commodities squeeze hasn’t helped. One example: The price of nickel, which is a key component in lithium-ion electric vehicle batteries, has more than doubled since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

We could bypass some in-demand materials entirely. Some researchers are designing solar panels that bypass indium, in anticipation of future shortages thanks to the boom in mobile phones. Some scientists say our indium mines (among others) could run dry within a century, the BBC reports.

But we could also look to discarded gadgets for our mineral needs. That will mean boosting recycling infrastructure, investing in more sustainable manufacturing processes, and supporting chemical scientists’ research on how best “progress methods of separating critical raw materials from electronic waste for recycling purposes," according to Professor Tom Welton, former president of the UK’s Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC).

Some people are still hesitant to recycle their e-waste — especially personal devices: Some 40 mn electronic devices are sitting idly in drawers in the UK, according to a 2020 RSC study — partly because of privacy concerns over the data stored on them. There’s also limited access and awareness about e-waste recycling drop off points.

Manufacturers need to step up and take responsibility: “Manufacturers and retailers need to take more responsibility. Like 'take-back' schemes, meaning people can return their electronics to a retailer and be assured they will be recycled securely,” the RSC’s Elizabeth Ratcliffe told BBC radio.

Some government and citizen-based initiatives have been working to help with e-waste recycling in the local market: E-waste management startups like RecycloBekia and E-Tadweer help dispose of these unwanted electronics. The ICT Ministry’s Green ICT Strategy, meanwhile, aims to raise awareness on e-waste management, “reducing the adverse environmental impacts resulting from the expansion of using ICT devices.”

But there’s still a long way to go: Egypt produces an estimated 90k tonnes of e-waste a year, 58% of which comes from the private sector, 23% from households, and 19% from the public sector, according to 2021 figures. But we only had seven recycling facilities for e-waste as of last year, with only 5-10% of the volume of recycled e-waste being handled by the private sector.