Electronics donation is one route for keeping usable devices in circulation, but households also use retailer returns, depots, repair, resale, and disposal. The available statistics show that donation is meaningful for some device categories while formal collection remains the dominant pathway in several national surveys. They also show why reuse and responsible recycling matter as electronic waste grows.
Contents
- Unwanted electronics in Canadian homes
- Donation and drop-off choices
- Phones, ownership, and changing disposal habits
- U.S. consumer electronics generation and recycling
- United Kingdom reuse and waste pathways
- Global e-waste and resource recovery
Unwanted electronics in Canadian homes
Statistics Canada measured the share of Canadian households that had unwanted items to dispose of in 2023. Small appliances were the most common item in this set: 16% of households reported having unwanted small appliances. Computers, televisions, and cellular phones each appeared at 14%. Printers were reported by 10% of households, while audio-visual equipment was reported by 9%.
The figures cover a broad range of products, not only devices usually described as personal electronics. Microwave ovens accounted for 6% of households, and landline telephones and set-top boxes each accounted for 5%. Wearable electronics were reported by 4%, and electronic gaming equipment by 3%. These percentages describe households with unwanted items, not the number of individual products and not the share that donated them.
There was geographic variation within Canada. In British Columbia, 26% of households had unwanted small appliances in 2023. In New Brunswick, 10% of households had unwanted cellular phones. Those regional figures are not national averages; they show that disposal patterns can differ by product and province.
The source is Statistics Canada’s Trip through your wires: Canadian households and electronic waste, reporting 2023 household results: Statistics Canada.
Donation and drop-off choices
Among Canadian households that had unwanted computers in 2023, 64% took or sent them to a depot or drop-off centre. A smaller 16% donated or gave them away. Televisions followed a similar pattern: 67% went to a depot or drop-off centre, while 16% were donated or given away.
For unwanted audio-visual equipment, 66% of households used a depot or drop-off centre and 18% donated or gave the equipment away. For printers, the corresponding figures were 67% and 12%. These results place donation alongside formal collection rather than treating the two as interchangeable: a device given to another person is counted differently from one delivered to a collection location.
Gaming equipment had a somewhat different mix of reported choices. Among households with unwanted electronic gaming equipment, 52% took or sent it to a depot or drop-off centre, 21% donated or gave it away, and 16% repaired or sold it. In this category, donation was the largest reported non-depot pathway in the supplied results, but it still represented less than the depot or drop-off route.
Cellular phones also had several pathways. In 2023, 16% of Canadian households with unwanted cellular phones returned them to a supplier or retailer, and 33% took or sent them to a depot or drop-off centre. The figures do not provide a 2023 donation percentage for cellular phones in this set, so no donation rate should be inferred from the other categories.
Landline telephones illustrate a less favorable disposal pattern. Among households with unwanted landline telephones, 14% donated or gave them away, while 54% put them in the trash. That comparison is specific to unwanted landline telephones in the 2023 Canadian results; it should not be generalized to every kind of electronic device.
| Unwanted item in Canadian households | Depot or drop-off centre | Donated or given away | Measurement period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Computers | 64% | 16% | 2023 |
| Televisions | 67% | 16% | 2023 |
| Audio-visual equipment | 66% | 18% | 2023 |
| Printers | 67% | 12% | 2023 |
| Electronic gaming equipment | 52% | 21% | 2023 |
The table compares only categories for which both pathways were reported. It does not represent all possible outcomes, and the percentages within a row are not intended to sum to 100% because other choices may also have been reported. Source: Statistics Canada’s Trip through your wires: Canadian households and electronic waste.
Phones, ownership, and changing disposal habits
The Canadian phone figures show why donation questions sit within a larger ownership story. The share of Canadian households with unwanted cellular phones was 14% in both 2021 and 2023. Among households with unwanted cellular phones in 2021, 12% returned them to a supplier or retailer and 40% took or sent them to a depot or drop-off centre.
An earlier Canadian source reported that the share donating or giving away unwanted cellular phones rose from 8% in 2011 to 11% in 2019. This is a historical comparison from the cited publication, not a new independent verification of the underlying older estimates. Its periods should be kept distinct from the 2021 and 2023 Statistics Canada results.
Ownership was widespread by 2019. In that year, 99.1% of Canadian households reported having some type of telephone. The share with a landline telephone fell from 71.9% in 2015 to 54% in 2019, while the share with at least one cellular phone rose from 86.1% to 91.3% over the same period.
The 2019 ownership distribution also included multiple-cellphone households. Some 70.1% of Canadian households reported having one or two cellular phones, and 21.1% reported having three or more. These ownership figures do not measure how many phones were donated, but they help explain why cellular devices are a recurring part of electronics reuse and disposal discussions.
The historical source is Repair or Replace: What are Canadians doing with their old cell phones and computers?: Statistics Canada PDF.
U.S. consumer electronics generation and recycling
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data provide a longer series for selected consumer electronics. The United States generated 1.9 million tons and recycled 190,000 tons in 2000. In 2005, generation reached 2.63 million tons and recycling reached 360,000 tons. In 2010, the figures were 3.12 million tons generated and 650,000 tons recycled.
The later observations show both higher volumes than in 2000 and year-to-year movement. In 2015, the United States generated 3.10 million tons of selected consumer electronics and recycled 1.23 million tons. In 2017, generation was 2.84 million tons and recycling was 1.02 million tons. In 2018, generation was 2.70 million tons and recycling was 1.04 million tons.
| Year | Selected consumer electronics generated | Recycled |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 1.90 million tons | 190,000 tons |
| 2005 | 2.63 million tons | 360,000 tons |
| 2010 | 3.12 million tons | 650,000 tons |
| 2015 | 3.10 million tons | 1.23 million tons |
| 2017 | 2.84 million tons | 1.02 million tons |
| 2018 | 2.70 million tons | 1.04 million tons |
These are selected consumer-electronics data, not a complete measure of every electronic product or every donation program. The dataset reports generated and recycled tonnage, but it does not identify how much was donated, reused, exported, or sent through particular charities. Source: the U.S. EPA’s Durable Goods: Product-Specific Data.
United Kingdom reuse and waste pathways
The United Kingdom figures distinguish generation from what is formally reported. The country generated 1,545 thousand tonnes of waste electrical and electronic equipment in 2017. Of that generated amount, 42% was treated and reported within the system. Approximately 34% was likely treated or reused but not reported, while around 24% was potentially lost to the residual waste stream.
Those categories describe estimated pathways and reporting coverage, not a direct count of charitable donations. They are useful because they show that a formal reporting system may not capture every reuse or treatment activity. The 34% figure is explicitly described as likely treated or reused but not reported, and the 24% figure as potentially lost to residual waste.
A separate 2019 measure put U.K. electrical and electronic waste generation at approximately 23.9 kilograms per person. In a 2020 estimate, almost 25% of electronic products thrown away in the United Kingdom was considered suitable for reuse. Because that is an estimate tied to 2020, it should not be read as a measured donation rate or combined directly with the 2017 tonnage categories.
The source is the U.K. government’s The waste prevention programme for England: Maximising Resources, Minimising Waste: GOV.UK.
Global e-waste and resource recovery
The world generated 62 million tonnes of e-waste in 2022, while the documented global collection and recycling rate was 22.3%. The Global E-waste Monitor projects global e-waste generation to reach 82 million tonnes in 2030. The 2030 figure is a forecast, not a measurement of waste already generated.
Resource loss is another part of the picture. Recoverable natural resources worth US$62 billion were left unaccounted for in global e-waste in 2022. Donation and reuse can extend the life of suitable devices, while recycling is the pathway for recovering materials from items that are no longer appropriate for reuse. The supplied figures do not quantify how much of the US$62 billion could be addressed by donation specifically.
Collection performance varied widely by region in 2022. Europe’s formally documented e-waste collection and recycling rate was 42.8%, whereas less than 1% of e-waste was formally recycled in African countries. Asian countries generated about 30 million tonnes of e-waste, roughly half the global total, and Europe generated 17.6 kilograms per person.
Small IT and telecommunication equipment produced 4.6 million tonnes of e-waste in 2022 and had a 22% documented collection and recycling rate. That equipment category is relevant to phones and other compact devices, but the statistic is a global category measure, not a donation rate for household handsets.
Policy coverage has also changed. The number of countries with e-waste legislation was 81 in 2023, compared with 78 in 2019. Legislation counts indicate the presence of e-waste laws or regulations; they do not show whether a particular device was donated, reused, collected, or recycled.
These global figures come from the Global E-waste Monitor 2024: Electronic Waste Rising Five Times Faster than Documented E-waste Recycling.