In some respects backing away from a May 2015 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) study on cross-border electronic scrap trading, a modified report from UNEP and Interpol still says some two-thirds of European e-scrap is not recorded as being recycled through proper channels.
While the May report sounded an alarmist tone that most e-scrap was being shipped as “junk” to developing nations, initial reports on the August update point more to a lack of recordkeeping (potentially as a form of tax evasion) and a lack of knowledge among Europeans as to how to recycle their cell phones and computers.
An online article from Reuters summarizing the report points to low recorded recycling rates in many European nations but not to an abundance of shipping such materials to Africa or parts of Asia, which is a violation of the Basel Convention when nonworking items are shipped.
While Sweden and Norway have achieved 85 percent recordable recycling rates for their obsolete electronics, nations such as Spain, Romania and Cyprus are still wallowing in the 20 percent range, according to the report.
Studying statistics available for 2012, the UNEP and Interpol concluded that about 35 percent of the items required by EU rules to be recycled (items or appliances with a plug or a battery) are being handled properly on average in the EU.
However, the report downplayed past suggestions that most of the rest gets illegally shipped to African nations, such as Nigeria and Ghana. “Most of the illegal e-waste trade is taking place next door rather than far away in Africa,” Jaco Huisman of the United Nations University, scientific coordinator of the project that included police agency Interpol and other partners, told Reuters.
Huisman cited “mismanagement, theft, scavenging [and] quite a significant amount going into the waste bin,” as reasons for the disappointing 35 percent EU recycling rate.
According to Reuters, the new report’s recommendations include “better police cooperation, more education of consumers about recycling and a ban on cash transactions in the scrap metal trade.”