Microbes are cleaning up all your e-waste — here’s how

Image: Credit: Flickr // icons8. Article by Sebastien Farnaud – The Conversation.

If you were to stack up all the electronic waste produced annually around the world it would weigh as much as all the commercial aircrafts ever produced, or 5,000 Eiffel towers. This is a growing “tsunami” according to the UN, and it’s fed by all the phones, tablets , and other electronic devices that are thrown away each day.

Of the 44.7 million metric tonnes of electronic waste (often shortened to “e-waste”) produced around the world in 2017, 90% was sent to landfill, incinerated, or illegally traded. Europe and the US accounted for almost half of this – the EU is predicted to produce 12 million tonnes in 2020 alone. If nothing is done to combat the problem, the world is expected to produce more than 120 million tonnes annually by 2050. […]

Click here to view article at thenextweb.com

Click here to view article at theconversation.com