warning over growing mountain of electronic waste

A large number of electronic devices and gadgets have been thrown away, triggering warnings of huge environmental consequences.
A United Nations report shows that in the past two years, the number of global e-waste mountains has increased by 8%, with only the fifth being recycled. A total of 44.
7 million tons of old computers, household appliances and gadgets were thrown away in 2016.
To visualize these numbers, the researchers calculated that it was equivalent to the weight of the 4,500 Eiffel Tower, which would require 1 seat if it was loaded onto a truck.
23 million of them traveled from New York to Bangkok before returning.
In the UK, each person throws away an average of 25 kg of the equipment each year.
The current recovery rate is around 45%, but the government has raised this target to 65% in 2019.
In order to recover properly, it needs to be taken to the council waste site and then sent to the authorized WEEE (
Waste electrical and electronic equipment)centres.
Sweeep Kuusakoski, located in Sittingbourne, Kent, is one of the largest WEEE centers in the UK, handling 36,000 tons per year, mostly smaller appliances, not washing machines and
The items are crushed into pieces and rotated into parts that can be reused.
Justin Greenaway, business manager, told Sky News: \"PC is just gold for us.
There are about 70 grams of gold in a ton of computers.
When we take the computer apart, we make metal, plastic and circuit boards.
We melt the board and make gold from the board.
\"But the challenge is to convince people not to throw things away with household garbage.
Mr greenneville said: \"If a thing is put in a black bag, it will eventually be put in a black bag, which is very tempting and at this point it is rubbishto-energy (incineration)
Or landfill, it\'s a sin to think about creating jobs and goods that we like gadgets.
\"Before New products are allowed to have a place in the store, the manufacturer has a legal obligation to help pay for the collection and disposal of old products.
But by making and selling them cheaply, they create a one-off culture in which replacement is simpler than repair.
United Nations researchers estimate that if valuable components are stripped from each of the discarded equipment, the value will reach $ 55bn (£41bn).
However, 80% of the garbage is discarded in the garbage or messed up people\'s homes because they are too lazy to handle it properly.