Electronic waste (e-waste) is one of the fastest-growing waste streams in modern municipal systems. The problem in high-income nations is particularly acute; for instance, citizens in the UK generate an average of 21.0 kg of e-waste per person annually — nearly three times the global average. Each year, approximately 1.4 million tonnes of electrical and electronic equipment are sold across the country, but only about 520,000 tonnes are properly collected and recycled.
Certain categories of electronics are far more likely to be recovered than others. Large-scale IT infrastructure and commercial electronics, such as corporate server racks and leased office laptops, achieve recovery and recycling rates close to 75%. In contrast, high-volume consumer electronics (such as smartphones, cheap tablets, and wireless headphones that are easily discarded in household trash) see a recycling rate of less than 15%. This low recovery rate results in severe external costs, including toxic heavy metals (like lead and mercury) leaching into local water tables, atmospheric pollution from informal incineration, and high carbon emissions from mining raw materials for replacement devices.
To address this market failure, policy makers are considering various interventions. These options include deposit-refund schemes (DRS) on small electronics, "right-to-repair" legislation, taxes on virgin raw materials, and subsidies for local state-of-the-art hydrometallurgical recycling facilities.
With reference to Extract B, discuss possible methods of government intervention to reduce electronic waste.
