According to a 2019 report by the World Economic Forum, the world's electronic waste has a material value of $62.5 billion (£46 billion) - more than the GDP of most countries.
The "mountain" of waste electronic and electrical equipment discarded in 2021 will weigh more than 57 million tonnes, researchers have estimated.
"A tonne of discarded mobile phones is richer in gold than a tonne of gold ore," said Dr Ruediger Kuehr, director of the UN's Sustainable Cycles (SCYCLE) programme.
In the UK, a 2019 study by the Royal Society of Chemistry found that as many as 40 million unused gadgets are languishing in our homes. That puts pressure on the supply of many valuable and rare elements.
"Every tonne of WEEE recycled avoids around two tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions,"
