this post was submitted on 13 Oct 2023
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Vapes, chargers, and other “invisible” e-waste are a 9-million-ton problem. (www.theverge.com)
submitted 1 year ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
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Vapes, chargers, and other “invisible” e-waste are a 9-million-ton problem.::Chargers, vapes, and other small electronics make up millions of tons of “invisible” e-waste each year. Recycling them could recover billions of dollars worth of precious materials.

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[–] M0oP0o@mander.xyz 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So I was wondering how much this was in the whole picture and it seems like around 2 billion tons of waste are made each year (oof) so in relation this is 0.45% of global waste. This is bad but seems more of the blame the consumer type of thing then a major problem that needs addressing above others. For some more context 25 million tons of water bottles do not get recycled but end up in landfills each year. We should be recycling these carts and chargers but by no means is this a leading cause of waste.

[–] nostradiel@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You should read a lot about plastic recycling industry. More than 80% of all plastic made is non-recyclable..

But I agree that blaming the customers for this is avoiding the true responsibility of companies.

[–] M0oP0o@mander.xyz 2 points 1 year ago

I think most people would be surprised at how little plastic gets recycled from consumer goods. And it is not the fault of the end user, but the companies that produce without reuse and design the plastic products.