Out of Control

As the consumption of electronics has increased rapidly the last years, so has the waste made up of discarded products. The UN estimates that up to 50 million tonnes of e-waste may be generated in the world each year, which is enough to fill a line of trucks stretching half way around the entire globe. A Western European household is expected to generate around 900 kilos of e-waste over a 20 year period. Electronic products improve and intensify our lives in many different ways, but their afterlives remain, to a large extent, an unsolved dilemma.