Electronics reuse is only one part of the end-of-life picture. Reuse, refurbishment, preparation for reuse, collection, treatment and recycling are measured differently, so the statistics below keep those categories separate. In 2022, the world generated 62 million tonnes of e-waste, while only 22.3% was documented as properly collected and recycled, according to the Global e-Waste Monitor 2024.
Contents
- Global electronics waste and the reuse opportunity
- U.S. electronics reaching end of life
- U.S. collection rates by category
- Direct reuse, refurbishment and resale
- United Kingdom household WEEE reuse
- European collection and circularity indicators
Global electronics waste and the reuse opportunity
The global volume of discarded electronics has grown substantially. The Global E-waste Monitor reports 62 million tonnes of e-waste in 2022, an 82% increase from 2010. Its projection is 82 million tonnes by 2030, which would be 33% above the 2022 level. The same forecast expects e-waste generation to rise by about 2.6 million tonnes each year from 2022 to 2030.
Only 22.3% of 2022 global e-waste mass was documented as properly collected and recycled. The documented collection and recycling rate is projected to fall to 20% by 2030. That forecast describes documented management, not the share of devices that could be reused.
Small devices were the largest named category in the 2022 global figures, at 20.4 million tonnes, or 33% of total e-waste. Only 12% of that category was recycled. Small information-technology and telecommunications equipment contributed another 4.6 million tonnes, with a documented collection and recycling rate of 22%.
The material value of electronics also shows why keeping products and components in use matters. The 2022 e-waste stream contained an estimated 31 million tonnes of metals, 17 million tonnes of plastics and 14 million tonnes of other materials. Documented recycling reclaimed secondary raw materials worth about US$28 billion. Formal e-waste management avoided an estimated 93 million tonnes of carbon-dioxide-equivalent emissions in 2022.
The Global E-waste Monitor estimates that 14 million tonnes, or 22.3% of 2022 global e-waste, was trashed, mostly in landfills. It also estimates that raising collection and recycling to 60% by 2030 would produce benefits exceeding costs by more than US$38 billion. These are global estimates and forecasts; they are not a direct count of devices successfully reused.
U.S. electronics reaching end of life
Older U.S. product-flow estimates illustrate the scale of electronics reaching end-of-life management. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported 2.37 million short tons of electronics ready for end-of-life management in 2009 and projected 2.44 million short tons for 2010. The 2010 value is explicitly a projection.
Between 2006 and 2009, the modeled number of mobile devices ready for U.S. end-of-life management rose from 100 million units to 141 million. Computers rose from 39.4 million units in 2006 to 47.4 million in 2009. Computer displays increased from 31.0 million to 34.3 million units, while televisions increased from 25.7 million to 27.2 million.
These product-flow values come from the EPA’s Electronics Waste Management in the United States Through 2009. They are modeled estimates rather than a current national reuse count, and the measurement period ends in 2010.
The same EPA report estimated that 8.3 million mobile devices were collected for U.S. recycling in 2007 and 11.8 million in 2009. A collection figure indicates that devices entered a recycling channel; it does not establish that the devices were reused or refurbished.
U.S. collection rates by category
For all covered electronics, the U.S. collection-for-recycling rate was 22% in 2006, 24% in 2007, 24% in 2008 and 25% in 2009. The EPA projected a 27% rate for 2010. The sequence measures collection for recycling relative to products ready for end-of-life management, not direct reuse.
The 2009 category rates varied considerably by weight:
| Electronics category | U.S. collection-for-recycling rate, 2009 |
|---|---|
| Computers | 38% |
| Hard-copy devices | 34% |
| Computer displays | 29% |
| Televisions | 17% |
| Mobile devices | 8% |
| Keyboards and mice | 8% |
Computers therefore had the highest listed 2009 collection rate at 38%, followed by hard-copy devices at 34% and computer displays at 29%. Televisions were collected at 17% by weight, while mobile devices and keyboards and mice each had an 8% rate. Because these are category-specific, weight-based rates, they should not be read as unit-based reuse rates or combined without additional methodology.
Direct reuse, refurbishment and resale
The EPA also reported evidence more directly related to reuse. In a survey of seven U.S. recyclers, the share of collected consumer electronics that was reused or refurbished was 30% in 2007, 32% in 2008 and 33% in 2009. These percentages describe the surveyed recyclers’ collected material, not the U.S. electronics stream as a whole.
A separate EPA survey of three specialist mobile-device companies found that 42% of collected mobile devices were reused or refurbished in 2007, 43% in 2008 and 38% in 2009. The survey covered 561 tons collected in 2007, 924 tons in 2008 and 743 tons in 2009. The mobile-device figures are therefore separate from the seven-recycler consumer-electronics survey and are not national reuse rates.
The EPA’s 2007 model also estimated used-product volumes as a share of comparable products sold by weight. Used computers represented 9.1% of comparable computer sales, and used computer displays represented 9.2%. Used printers, scanners and multifunction devices represented 7.7%; used televisions represented 3.9%; and used mobile devices represented 3.0%.
Smaller modeled ratios were reported for used keyboards and mice at 2.5%, used fax machines at 1.1% and used digital copiers at 1.1%. These figures come from the Advancing Sustainable Materials Management: 2016 Recycling Economic Information Report Methodology.
The EPA’s REI definition of electronics recycling includes recovery, refurbishing or remanufacturing and resale. As a result, these 2007 modeled proportions are not identical to counted reuse tonnage. They help indicate the scale of secondary markets, but they should not be interpreted as a direct reuse rate for all electronics collected.
United Kingdom household WEEE reuse
United Kingdom reporting provides a longer recent series for household waste electrical and electronic equipment, or WEEE. Household WEEE reused between 2017 and 2022 remained roughly between 10,000 and 15,000 tonnes per year. Over the same period, reuse was roughly 2% to 3% of household WEEE received for treatment.
Among six fee-bearing UK WEEE streams, Display Equipment had the highest reuse rate in 2022 at 3.7%. The reported reuse rate was 0% for Gas Discharge Lamps and LED Light Sources and 0% for Photovoltaic Panels in 2022. A zero reported rate is specific to that stream and reporting year; it does not prove that no individual item anywhere was reused.
The proposed methodology for the 2023 WEEE compliance fee supplies the household WEEE reuse series and stream-level figures. UK WEEE boundaries and reporting practices are specific to the UK system, so these percentages should not be merged directly with global or EU rates.
Additional UK estimates show a gap between generated waste and recorded treatment. The UK generated approximately 23.9 kilograms of electrical and electronic waste per person in 2019. For WEEE generated in 2017, 42% was treated and reported within the regulatory system, while approximately 34% was estimated to have been treated or reused but not reported. The latter is an estimate, not a directly observed reuse total.
The waste prevention programme for England also states that almost 25% of electronic products thrown away in the UK was estimated to be suitable for reuse. That estimate was published in 2023 without a measurement year specified in the supplied source description, so it should be treated separately from the 2017–2022 reported reuse series.
European collection and circularity indicators
European figures provide context on the difference between equipment placed on the market, e-waste generated and e-waste collected. EU countries placed 14.4 million tonnes of electrical and electronic equipment on the market in 2022 and collected 5 million tonnes of e-waste. EU e-waste collection averaged 11.2 kilograms per person in 2022, according to the European Commission’s WEEE overview.
The Global E-waste Monitor reported Europe’s formally documented collection and recycling rate at 42.8% in 2022. Europe generated 17.6 kilograms of e-waste per person and documented 7.5 kilograms of e-waste collection and recycling per person that year. The per-person figures and the rate describe documented collection and recycling, not direct product reuse.
| European indicator | 2022 value |
|---|---|
| Electrical and electronic equipment placed on the EU market | 14.4 million tonnes |
| EU e-waste collected | 5 million tonnes |
| EU e-waste collection per person | 11.2 kg |
| Europe e-waste generated per person | 17.6 kg |
| Europe documented collection and recycling per person | 7.5 kg |
| Europe’s formally documented collection and recycling rate | 42.8% |
Taken together, the figures show why electronics reuse statistics need careful labels. A device can be ready for end-of-life management, collected, treated, refurbished, resold or recycled, and each stage has a different denominator. Global 2030 values are forecasts, U.S. 2006–2010 product-flow values are modeled estimates with a projected 2010 value, and the most direct U.S. reuse percentages come from limited recycler surveys. Keeping those distinctions visible makes the statistics more useful for recycling decisions and reuse planning.