UK second highest producer of WEEE

In 2019, the UK was found to be the second largest producer of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) in the world. The report stated that the UK produced 23.9kg per capita, second only to Norway with a total of 26kg.

Despite dropping from 24.9kg per capita in 2016, the UK is still 4.5kg heavier per capita than third place Germany. Despite Northern Europe being the world’s largest producer of WEEE, it also has the highest recycling rates in the world with 59% of waste being recycled. However, approximately £7.9 billion of gold, platinum and other materials were dumped each year due to the limited amount of facilities that have the capability to extract them from items such as computers.

A recent report has shown that the amount of WEEE is increasing three times faster than the world’s population. This may be due to the short life span of products such as phones and computers that are difficult to repair.

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Throughout Manchester and Cheshire, STE Waste Management offer hard drive shredding, computer collection and recycling services. All these services conform to the strict WEEE recycling Code of Conduct, enabling us to supply your business with an audit trail for all your redundant computer equipment.

Click here to find out more about our full list of WEEE Recycling Services.