E-waste is a health and environment hazard, containing toxic additives or hazardous substances such as mercury, which damages the human brain and coordination system.
According to the report, less than 18 percent of the e-waste generated in 2019 was collected and recycled.
E-waste consisting gold, silver, copper, platinum and other high value, recoverable materials worth at least $ 57 billion was mostly dumped or burnt instead of being collected and reuse.
According to the report, the number of countries, which have adopted a national e-waste policy, legislation or regulation has increased from 61 to 78 and India is one of them.
However, the trend is certainly positive, but is still far from the target set by International telecommunication Union to raise the percentage of countries with an e-waste legislation to 50 percent.
In India, the number of authorized e-waste recyclers is 312.
The capacity of these recyclers is 800 kilotonnes annually.
However, as the large majority of the waste is handled by the informal sector, formal recycling capacity remains under-utilized.
According to the report, 90 percent of country՚s e-waste is recycled in informal sector.
There is an urgent need to implement the regulations effectively to manage the e-waste in at least 115 countries in which it is yet to be regulated.
The Global E-waste Monitor 2020 is a collaborative product of the-
Global E-waste Statistics Partnership (GESP) , formed by the United Nations University (UNU)