| big interview |
| CHEMICAL INDUSTRY JOURNAL |
COVID-19 lockdowns lead to UK tech sales boom and adds to e-waste problem Following our Precious Elements campaign last year – which raised awareness of the supply risks to elements in our personal devices such as mobile phones – we have conducted further research to quantify how the COVID-19 pandemic may have had an impact on the problem of waste electronic equipment. By Lizzy Ratcliffe Last year we discovered that there could be 40 million or more unused devices being hoarded in drawers and cupboards around the UK. Now we’ve found that this problem is growing even more, with 12.8% of the 2,000 UK residents we surveyed saying they had acquired new IT equipment to enable them to work from home during the pandemic. Of these, nearly as many said they had put redundant tech in the bin (10.8%) as said they had recycled it (12.8%). And a further 10% of said they had a stockpile of old IT equipment they didn’t need as a result of changing their working habits. Later this year we will release the full results of our global survey, which looked at technology consumption during the pandemic as well as attitudes towards personal technology and sustainability. Meanwhile, Currys PC World told us that fitness trackers were up 45% year on year, and gaming technology sales were up 121%. With many gyms across the country set to remain closed – the traditional time for making weight loss and fitness resolutions – this is a trend that looks set to continue well into 2021. The figures are revealed as part of our ongoing Precious Elements campaign, which draws attention to supply risks to some of the precious elements used in consumer technology, such as gold, yttrium and indium. Prof. Tom Welton, President of the Royal Society of Chemistry, said: “Clearly the coronavirus pandemic caused a rapid change to our work and lifestyle patterns, but a
significant unintended consequence we are now facing is a rapid increase to the UK’s already growing e-waste crisis. That nearly as many people are binning their old tech as recycling it is a huge concern. “We increasingly think about the sustainability of other items around the home, such as plastics and cardboard packaging. If we’re to have sustainable technology, we need to start thinking in the same way about our old gadgets, or we risk running out of the elements we need to produce these items while continuing to exacerbate the environmental damage caused by the consumer tech industry.” The Royal Society of Chemistry was invited to give evidence to the UK Government’s Environmental Audit Committee report into e-waste following its Precious Elements campaign last year, which found that up to 40 million unused gadgets were stockpiled in people’s homes because they didn’t know how to dispose of them. The recommendations have now been put to the government for possible inclusion in the new Environment Bill in 2021. Meanwhile, as of 1 January 2021, retailers distributing electrical and electronic equipment are now required to offer in-store take back of items equivalent to those sold to consumers in-store. In addition, retailers with greater than 400 square metres of floor space will be required to accept all items of very small Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) regardless of whether customers are replacing the item by buying new products or not. Very small WEEE is defined as items with dimensions no greater than 25cm on any side/edge. Prof. Welton said: “We know chemists are working on the tricky problem of how to separate more critical raw
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