electronic waste

Ecotech

What are the five hardest things to recycle in Europe?

We still don’t know how to recycle these five common products, but scientists are busy finding answers.

19 April 2025

Earth News

How your bag of old cables could power Europe’s wind turbines

UK households contain 38,449 tonnes of copper in old electricals, enough to build 1,240 copper Statues of Liberty.

8 October 2024

Ecotech

Vaping waste is a ‘huge’ problem in the UK. Is a new ban the solution?

Last year, around five million single-use vapes were either littered or thrown away every week in the UK.

1 October 2024

Culture news

Photojournalism award reveals major problem of e-waste in Ghana

The resulting images capture the immensity of the e-waste problem and the vulnerability of Ghanaians caught up in the system.

5 July 2024

Earth News

Solar panel makers will have to pay for disposal under new EU rules

Legislative update follows ruling from the EU Court of Justice related to products marketed before 2012.

4 March 2024

Europe News

New EU law plans for smartphones to include replaceable batteries

The EU wants to prevent manufacturers from making it difficult for consumers to change their devices' batteries safely and cheaply.

25 July 2023

Earth News

EU ‘right to repair’ laws may save millions of phones from landfill

Smartphone manufacturers make their batteries hard to replace. Tough new EU rules will change that.

22 June 2023

Ecotech

‘The dark truths’ of the smartphone industry - and how we can fix them

Want a smartphone that doesn’t cost the earth? Here's how Fairphone tackles e-waste, environmental damage and exploitation.

5 June 2023

Earth News

Austria is tackling e-waste by helping to pay for repairs

An EU-wide ‘right to repair’ law could soon make it easier to repair rather than replace electronics.

2 May 2023

Ecotech

Solar panels: Scientists make recycling breakthrough

Tens of thousands of solar panels ended up in landfill every year in Australia...until now.

6 March 2023