Raphael Thys
Over the last four years, the government has made little progress in tackling the UK’s electronic waste (e-waste) crisis, MPs on the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) have said.
An EAC report from November 2020 outlined the “huge human and environmental damage” that the extraction of raw materials needed for their production causes. E-waste, when not properly treated, can release toxic chemicals that damage human and animal health.
At the time, the government accepted or partly accepted many of the recommendations made in the report, but a recent assessment has shown that little progress has been made in the intervening years.
Research from Material Focus showed that the UK threw away nearly half a billion cheap electrical items such as headphones, cables, decorative lights and mini fans in 2023.
Annual spend on fast tech also reportedly passed the £2.8bn mark for the first time last year and there are over 100,000 tonnes of waste electricals thrown away yearly. In 2020, another study found that Britons produce the second largest amount of e-waste per person in Europe behind Norway.
But with little progress made, the EAC has called for more to be done on embedding a circular economy to use, reuse and recycle electronic products. It said it was encouraged by new rules being introduced that will see online marketplaces being subject to producer responsibility requirements in the same way that high-street retailers already are.
But a recent consultation on the issue by the government was deemed to have a “narrow focus” that failed to address many of the EAC’s 2020 recommendations.
These included ensuring products sold on online marketplaces are compliant with the law, addressing planned obsolescence and making electrical items safe to repair for the consumer.
EAC chair Philip Dunne MP said: “When the committee reported on e-waste in 2020, each UK household had 20 unused electronic items hoarded at home, and there were enough unused cables in UK households to go around the world five times. Despite these extraordinary statistics, it appears the government is yet to grasp fully the scale of the e-waste tsunami.
“It is not just the amount of waste created in the sector through planned obsolescence or insufficient recycling schemes, but the significant environmental impact of creating the products in the first place. For example, when disposed of incorrectly, toxic chemicals can leak into the surrounding environment. The precious metals needed for our mobile phones, tablets or headphones are needed for net zero Britain and renewable energy infrastructure.
“As a select committee, we are encouraged when the government looks carefully at the evidence we have collected and accepts our recommendations. However, four years on, we are yet to see many of these initiatives make it into policy or be reflected in its current consultation on e-waste.”