The Government needs to make online retailers take responsibility for the growing problem of e-waste - Sarah Kuszynski

E-waste, when not properly disposed of, releases many harmful pollutants that are linked to a host of serious health issues, into the soil, water and air. The explosion in e-waste is also putting increased pressure on the future supply of natural resources essential to the production of electronic devices, such as smartphones. For instance, around 7 per cent of the world's gold is now contained within disused electronics. By not recycling these materials, we are literally missing out on a resource gold mine. Despite the fact that the case for e-waste reduction could not be stronger, little progress has been made to combat the mountains of it we produce. Indeed, the UK has only met its targets for e-waste collection once in the last seven years.

To truly tackle the problem, the Government must take further steps to promote a circular economy – ensuring products remain in use for as long as possible and recycling their valuable components. This will involve preventing online retailers from shirking their responsibilities as polluters and expanding regulation around the repair of electronic goods.

Currently, waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) regulations do not require online marketplaces, like Amazon and eBay, to offer their own take-back services for customers to dispose of their electronic devices when buying a new product. Instead, they can simply pay a fee to avoid having to provide this service. Although the fees are used to fund local recycling centres and collection facilities, the loophole risks increasing the amount of e-waste produced, shifting the burden of disposal away from the polluter to consumers who may not have the time or know-how to properly dispose of e-waste. This situation is not only deeply unfair to brick-and-mortar retailers, but also does little to combat online retailers’ indifference to the e-waste problem. For instance, Amazon declined to appear in front of a recent Environmental Audit Committee session on e-waste reduction.

To make online retailers take more responsibility, the Government must strengthen take-back legislation.

Prolonging the life of electronic devices, by encouraging their repair, is also essential to e-waste reduction. Alas, the UK is currently behind the curve. While the European Parliament recently adopted rules that will force the manufacturers of both household appliances and electronic devices to provide consumers access to spare parts and affordable repairs – the so-called ‘right to repair’ – we only require the manufacturers of certain household devices to make spare parts available for repair, omitting key products such as smartphones.

This is an oversight. Enabling the repair of smartphones would not only help consumers save money, but also conserve costly resources, and, by lessening the need to purchase replacement devices, reduce the environmental damage caused by the millions of smartphones the UK throws away each year.

Sarah Kuszynski is a researcher at the Bright Blue think tank.