E-Waste in 13 LatAm countries rose by 49% between 2010 and 2019, roughly the world average. The issue is that just 3% was collected and safely managed, a fraction of the 17.4% global average.
According to a new report produced by the Sustainable Cycles Programme, co-hosted by the UN University and the UN Institute for Training and Research, Latin America has a big opportunity to recover valuable materials from e-waste that it has been throwing it into the garbage.
Data compiled for the report show that the e-waste generated regionally in 2019 contained 7000 kilos of gold, 310 kilos of rare-earth metals, 591 million kilos of iron, 54 million kilos of copper, and 91 million kilos of aluminum, representing a total value of roughly $1.7 billion of secondary raw materials.
