A title that no country would like to own would be that of being the world’s largest e-waste polluter, and unfortunately for those living in the US, the country remains right at the top of the list, although they do have China biting at their heels. This bit of information was gleaned from an U.N think tank study. When it comes to e-waste, it will include phones, televisions, laptops and computers, which would eventually pose a certain degree of danger to humans and the environment alike because of lead, mercury and other kinds of poisonous toxins that are present in batteries.
In the StEP initiative, it was reported that the US actually dumped in over 9.4 million metric tons of e-waste in 2012 alone, which would be an additional 2 million metric tons compared to China. If one were to look at it based on a Per Capita calculation, each person living in the US would be responsible for 30 kilograms (66 pounds) of e-waste, which is more than four times that of the global average of 7 kilograms (15 pounds) per person. There is no real winners in such a study, so with word that China is about to catch up with the US in this aspect, the whole world loses in the long run.
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