While the great changes experienced in world economies and the decrease in natural resources have increased the importance of many topics such as environment, climate and industry, product and material recycling has become a growing structure in many countries.
The recycling of end-of-life products, which is accepted as a new trend, has ceased to be a subject supported by the national legislation of the countries and has been accepted as a necessary issue in ecological terms at the global level. On the other hand, “e-waste”, a structure that reduces the use and cost of unprocessed raw materials, also attracts economic attention.
So what is e-waste?
Since the 1980s, with the development of consumer-oriented electrical and electronic technologies, a large number of electronic equipment has been sold. The lifespan of these electronic devices sold to consumers is quite short due to rapid changes in the features and capacities of the equipment. This situation causes a significant accumulation of unused electronic devices. Electronic waste (e-Waste) in its most general form includes all electrical and electronic wastes that are discarded by the e-Waste user without the intention of reusing them. The wastes in this scope include all electronic products that operate with an electrical circuit, power system or battery.
The amount of electronic waste (e-waste) produced in the world is expected to reach 44.4 million metric tons in the next five years. In this case, the global market for electronics recycling is expected to reach 65.8 billion dollars by 2026. However, since electronic waste management is not handled properly in developing countries, only 17.4% of the items that can be considered as “e-Waste” have been collected and recycled. Inadequate electronic waste treatment causes significant environmental and health problems and systematic depletion of natural resources in the extraction of valuable materials.
Since many reusable materials are obtained with electronic waste (e-WASTE), it should not be overlooked that this type of waste has a direct relationship with “renewable energy” sources. Because e-Waste contains many valuable materials that can be recovered and reused to create renewable energy technologies to overcome the shortage of raw materials and the negative effects of the use of non-renewable energy sources.
As is known, lithium, graphite, nickel-cobalt, manganese, aluminum, chromium, copper, iron, zinc and vanadium are among the elements used especially in batteries of electrical appliances. Copper, which is used especially in wind and solar projects and storage batteries, is an important metal of electrification and has become one of the basic elements of renewable energy sources.
Among these valuable elements, the need for the element “copper” is expected to reach unprecedented levels with the increase in demand from other sectors. It is thought that copper demand will not be met in 2050 even in scenarios of increased production and copper recycling. This has brought to mind significant increases in copper prices. At this point, the International Energy Agency has also stated that it will take an average of 16 years for a new copper mine to become operational efficiently, and that the increased copper resource at the end of this period will not be sufficient to meet the worldwide demand.
To give another example; “biogas” is obtained by subjecting industrial waste to many technical processes, especially as a result of thermal destruction and separation of industrial waste, in terms of energy production from “e-Waste”. As can be seen, obtaining “renewable energy” from old electronic waste brings with it titles such as “Reuse of Resources”, “Environmental Protection”, “Economic and Social Benefit”. Recycling old electronic devices enables the recovery of valuable metals and enables them to be produced in a cheaper and more environmentally friendly way.
To give an example from the World and Turkey;
- Every person in the United Kingdom (UK) buys almost three new electrical appliances every year. The British government announced on December 28, 2024 that it is preparing to make it easier for households to recycle their electrical cables, devices and white goods, and when we look at the statistics, it is seen that approximately 155,000 tons of small household appliances such as cables, toasters, kettles and electrical appliances are accidentally thrown into the trash every year, and it is thought that UK homes accumulate another 527 million unwanted electrical items containing valuable materials such as gold, silver and platinum.
- The European Union’s phones, televisions and computers produce approximately 9 million tons of e-waste. Electronic waste management in the European Union is regulated by the WasteElectricaland Electronic Waste Directive (WEEE Directive (2012/19/EU)), which addresses the collection, recycling and recovery processes. According to this regulation, electronic product manufacturers must finance the collection, recycling and recovery of the products they produce and provide all guarantees related to this.
- There are various laws and regulations regarding the recycling of old electronic devices in Turkey. The Regulation on Control of Electrical and Electronic Equipment issued in 2012 ensured the proper collection and recycling of electronic waste. This regulation made it mandatory for manufacturers of electronic devices to establish recycling systems and collect old devices. Various electronic waste collection centers operate in Turkey to ensure the recycling of old devices. These centers generally perform tasks and processes such as “Collection of old electronic devices”, “Dismantling and separating devices”, “Removing recyclable materials” and “Safely disposing of toxic components”.
- Valuable recycled metals obtained from electronic waste in the USA form the basic backbone for many applications. Energy is another important factor in our daily lives, where fossil fuels are the main source of energy production. The U.S. Energy Information Agency reports that fossil fuels accounted for approximately 79% of total U.S. primary energy production in 2020.
- Canada, Japan, and China are also expected to have the largest market share in e-waste recycling. This is due to the rapid growth and adoption of waste recycling solutions, software, systems, and platforms across a variety of industries, including security, automotive, marketing, healthcare, retail, information technology, and telecommunications.
As a result, “e-waste” recycling enables the recovery of valuable materials from end-of-life electronic devices and their use in new products. This saves energy, prevents environmental pollution, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and preserves natural resources.
At this point, it is very valuable to carry out well-structured recycling programs, to continuously and regularly supply the materials to be recycled, to eliminate the lack of cost-effective recycling technologies, and to carry out awareness studies that will emphasize the direct and undeniable relationship between “e-waste” and “renewable energy” and to reach a better point.
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