On the occasion of World Recycling Day on March 18, 2021, the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) published new data on electrical waste in Germany and the EU for the year of 2018. The volume of discharged electrical and electronic devices in German households amounted to a total of 853,000 tons. This corresponds to an average of 10.3 kilogram of electronic waste per person.
These figures are derived from Eurostat data, which is regularly collected within the guidelines of the 'Directive on waste electrical and electronic equipment'.
These are further details:
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853,000 tons of electronic waste in Germany for 2018 corresponds to an average of 10.3 kilogram per person. Compared to the previous year, this depicts a per capita increase by 0.2 kilogram and respectively an increase by 1.5 kilogram compared to 2015.
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Widespread ownership pf of electronic devices may be responsible for this increase: At the beginning of 2020, the vast majority of German households owned a television (97 percent), computer (92 percent) and a cell phone or smartphone (98 percent).
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The per capita level of disposed of electrical appliances in Germany exceeds the EU average of 8.9 kilogram. The highest levels of per capita waste in the EU were recorded in Sweden (14.2 kg), Austria (13.2 kg) and Ireland (12.9 kg).
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In 2018 and across all 27 Member States, a total of four million tons of electrical and electronic devices was discharged via waste collection points.
Source: Destatis
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