Currently, most obsolete electronic products are not recycled, and e-waste has become one of the fastest growing and most toxic waste streams in the industrialized world. Junked high-technology equipment is one of the largest known sources of heavy metals and organic pollutants in municipal garbage. It amounts to 1 per cent to 2 per cent of the total solid waste stream from residential areas. European studies estimate that the volume of electronic waste is rising by 3 per cent to 5 per cent per year — almost three times faster than the municipal waste stream.

In the U.S., the National Safety Council, a nonprofit, non-governmental public service organization, estimates that 20.6 million PCs were abandoned in 1998 - of which only 11 per cent were recycled (compared with 28 per cent of overall municipal solid waste), and predicts that more than 315 million computers in the U.S. will be obsolete by 2004. Another survey by Stanford Resources Inc., a technology research firm, predicts 500 million obsolete PCs by 2007, most of them destined for landfills or incinerators.

A study by Carnegie Mellon University estimates a minimum of 150 million personal computers will be buried in U.S. landfills by 2005. On top of the computers, North Americans throw 40 to 50 million cell phones into landfills each year.

In the U.K., a report from the U.K. Industry Council for Electronic and Electrical Equipment Recycling reveals that during 1998 nearly one million tons of waste electrical and electronic equipment was discarded. About half passed through the recycling sector. Forty-three per cent was large household appliances, while 39 per cent was computers and other information technology equipment.

Another survey undertaken by UK computer company Selway Moore found that 34 per cent of companies currently scrap unused IT goods, and 65 per cent don't consider refurbished equipment when upgrading their systems.

Here in Canada, the Enviros RIS report estimates that in 1999 approximately 34,000 tons of electronic waste (PCs, monitors, laptops, peripherals, i.e. printers and scanners) was "disposed of" i.e. tossed into landfills and garbage dumps - a figure that does not include mainframe computer systems and other large equipment) and predicts that approximately 67,000 tons of personal computers, laptops, peripherals and monitors will be disposed of by 2005.

Additionally, Enviro RIS estimates 3,000 tons of phones and fax machines were disposed of in 1999, and that 4,300 tons will be chucked annually by 2005.

Conservation Manitoba estimates on its Web site that the amount of electronic and electrical equipment scrapped from houses will increase five-fold in the next few years as the pace of technological change continues. A disproportionate share of this electronic waste originates in Alberta, the province with the highest number of computers per capita.