Context 1: THE GLOBAL CONTEXT

Extract A: Copper and Cobalt, world price indices

Extract B: The E-waste Challenge

Recycling unwanted electronic items has become a rapid-growth global marketplace. With rising prices for industrial materials, salvaged metals such as copper and cobalt are in high demand. Specialized commercial salvaging operations process discarded smartphones and laptops, which contain valuable trace amounts of cobalt, copper, and precious metals. Much of this recovery takes place in large industrial hubs near major ports, where recycled alloys are standard feedstocks for high-tech manufacturing and energy storage products.

However, despite rising commodity indexes, high collection and logistics costs mean that millions of tonnes of discarded consumer electronics are still sent directly to local landfills or incinerators. Standard landfilling of electronic waste (e-waste) represents a significant environmental market failure. It pollutes groundwater with heavy metals, releases toxic chemicals when incinerated, and wastes increasingly scarce resource reserves. These negative externalities reflect a clear divergence between private costs and social costs.

Governments have experimented with several market-based and regulatory interventions. Some rely on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) programs, forcing tech manufacturers to fund national collection and recycling schemes. Others advocate for deposit-refund schemes on consumer electronics, or straightforward waste-disposal taxes. However, high disposal taxes must be monitored closely, as they often create unintended consequences such as illegal fly-tipping in rural locations. Furthermore, non-governmental organisations campaign for 'right-to-repair' legislation to reduce initial consumption and the generation of electronic waste in the first place.

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