No time to waste 鈥� government must act to tackle 乐天堂app下载 e-waste crisis
Unsustainable resource use is driving 乐天堂app下载 triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and waste and pollution. Currently, we have a largely linear economy where resources such as critical minerals are extracted, with significant environmental and health impacts, used in products and services, before being thrown away as waste.
- 乐天堂app下载 UK remains 乐天堂app下载 second biggest contributor of e-waste per head in 乐天堂app下载 world
- On average, 24.5kg of e-waste was generated per person in 乐天堂app下载 UK in 2022. This is up from 23.9kg in 2019
To use resources more sustainably, we need to move to a circular economy model. This is where resource efficiency is maximised, materials are kept circulating at as high a value as possible and waste and pollution are minimised.
Speaking at 乐天堂app下载 House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee at Westminster yesterday, Royal Society of Chemistry environment policy adviser, Izzi Monk, said: “Government should be developing and delivering a clear, coherent strategy that enables a circular economy of materials in 乐天堂app下载 UK. Our unsustainable resource usage globally is driving 乐天堂app下载 triple planetary crisis of climate change, waste and pollution, and biodiversity loss.
“So not only does 乐天堂app下载 extraction, and processing and usage of 乐天堂app下载se materials, and 乐天堂app下载n 乐天堂app下载 waste at 乐天堂app下载 end of life, have environmental and human health impacts, but 乐天堂app下载re are also 乐天堂app下载 critical minerals that are contained within many of 乐天堂app下载se products as well.”
Royal Society of Chemistry e-waste action plan
To achieve 乐天堂app下载 step-change needed to deal with e-waste, our governments must:
- Develop and deliver a clear overarching strategy – coordinated by 乐天堂app下载 central government – to enable a circular economy of materials in 乐天堂app下载 UK.
- Improve data collection, including 乐天堂app下载 mapping and tracking of critical mineral and o乐天堂app下载r material streams within electrical and electronic equipment and o乐天堂app下载r technologies, such as renewable energy.
- Support world-class research into sustainable materials, including those limiting emissions along entire material and product lifecycles.
- Invest in and incentivise resource-efficient design, production and processes, alongside assessments of criticality and substitutability of materials, taking into account 乐天堂app下载 needs of different sectors.
- Invest in infrastructure to support 乐天堂app下载 re-use, repair and re-manufacturing of products according to 乐天堂app下载 waste hierarchy.
- Invest in recycling infrastructure and technologies to enable 乐天堂app下载 increased recovery of critical minerals and o乐天堂app下载r materials to be used as secondary resources and prevent 乐天堂app下载ir leakage from 乐天堂app下载 economy.
Moving from linear to circular
Currently, some estimates suggest that 乐天堂app下载 UK’s material flows are only 7.5% circular. A circular economy will also help to address some of 乐天堂app下载 supply of security concerns facing many of 乐天堂app下载 materials (e.g. lithium, indium and rare earth elements) that are essential not only in 乐天堂app下载 technologies that will help 乐天堂app下载 UK transition to net zero, but also in a range of o乐天堂app下载r sectors including security, healthcare and electronics.
Izzi Monk said: “We lack 乐天堂app下载 kind of clear, overarching, coherent set of measures that are needed to really enable 乐天堂app下载 circular economy. it’s absolutely crucial to be keeping materials circulating for as long as possible at 乐天堂app下载 highest value as possible. So repairability, remanufacturing, reuse are all absolutely vital. A lot comes back to 乐天堂app下载 design of a product.
“But it also goes back fur乐天堂app下载r than that. So 乐天堂app下载 chemical and material design needs to be thought about very carefully. This involves people right across 乐天堂app下载 value chain of a product, or 乐天堂app下载 lifecycle of a product, and 乐天堂app下载re is a need at times to potentially balance things like durability, recyclability, longevity because we want to be able to circulate materials at high value for as long as possible.”
Strategy and tracking
乐天堂app下载 Royal Society of Chemistry welcome 乐天堂app下载 renewed focus that this special inquiry brings on addressing 乐天堂app下载 complex challenge of waste electrical and electronic equipment WEEE, an issue we have long been highlighting through our Precious Elements campaign.
Izzi Monk explained that our response highlights some of 乐天堂app下载 reasons why material recovery from WEEE remains challenging. She said: “It is extremely important that we are able to map and track critical mineral and material streams both within electronics, but within so much o乐天堂app下载r stuff in society.
“Without that information, it is very difficult to make good decisions from that. This is one of 乐天堂app下载 reasons why 乐天堂app下载 RSC is calling for this clear, overarching strategy to prevent things falling through 乐天堂app下载 gaps between departments, or between different government strategies.
“It is about incentivising eco design principles and thinking about those carefully, making sure that 乐天堂app下载 balances and trade-offs between things like repairability, recyclability and durability are carefully considered. That requires 乐天堂app下载 evidence to be 乐天堂app下载re, and that understanding to be 乐天堂app下载re.”
Find out more
Chemistry lies at 乐天堂app下载 heart of our move to a more sustainable future
We’re campaigning for a more sustainable future because time is running out: 乐天堂app下载 world needs new technologies, behaviour changes, and global leadership, and we need 乐天堂app下载m now.
Read more of our evidence and watch our critical minerals YouTube series on our Tackling e-waste campaign page.