Consumers, investors and government are looking at your company's e-waste profile.Will they like what they see?

When consumer electronics are returned due to a fault, or subject to a product recall, thousands or even hundreds of thousands of units might be affected. Sometimes it is more economical for companies to scrap the items than to rework or repair them. That’s just business, but what subsequently happens to all of that e-waste can have a lasting impact your company’s brand for better or worse.

A pile of E-Waste in landfill

THE PROBLEM

  • 57.4 Mt (Million Metric Tonnes) of e-waste was generated in 2021. The total is growing by around 2 Mt a year.
  • Only around 17.5% of e-waste goes to recycling.
  • 80% of that recycling is low-efficiency, recovering or recycling very little.

Appointing a contractor to take away your e-waste for recycling often results in the waste being shipped to developing countries which don’t have the safety standards of developed nations. This can result in the e-waste lying in the environment for long periods, with catastrophic effects:

  • Soil contamination due to seepage of heavy metals and flame retardants.
  • Heavy metals leak into groundwater, causing damage through acidification and toxification.
  • E-waste is tremendously damaging to the health of people living close to e-waste sites, including changes in thyroid function, adverse neonatal outcomes and decreased lung function.

As the fastest growing source of trash across the globe, there’s a high degree of certainty that government will soon legislate in this area. Additionally, companies’ CSR / ESG policies are being scrutinised by consumers and investors alike to see how they’re dealing with this potentially catastrophic environmental problem.

THE SOLUTION IS ON YOUR DOORSTEP

At our facility in Sydney, BWES is spearheading the charge to recycle e-waste effectively, responsibly and at low cost. Using state of the art techniques, trained operators are able to rapidly break down household appliances previously deemed non-recoverable, into usable, recycled materials.

The process is so thorough that we are able to recover around 95% of a typical product as re-usable material, which is an excellent reflection on the CSR / ESG profiles of the companies currently using this service.

As a further time and cost-saver for your company, BWES are able to manage the logistics of a product recall, or returned faulty goods, providing a fast, clean and complete solution.

SOME ADDITIONAL FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Based on current trends reports predict the total amount of e-waste generated worldwide will reach 74 million metric tonnes by 2030.

E-waste has the potential to expose people to over a thousand harmful substances. These include nickel, lead, and mercury.

Per weight, recycling circuit boards contain more valuable material than mining for ore. Circuit boards have 40 to 800 times more gold than ore and 30 to 40 times more copper than ore.

This communication (including any attachment) has been prepared by BWES and is based on the available information at the time of publication and is believed to be true and accurate. The information contained in this communication should be used as a guide only and may cease to apply if applicable regulation or the product’s design or application is altered. BWES does not take responsibility for any Injury, Loss for damage suffered by any party’s interpretation or decisions made by any party on the information provided in this communication.