Iraq generates 150K tons of e-waste annually

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraq generates an estimated 150,000 metric tons of electronic waste each year, posing growing environmental and public health risks amid the absence of a national system for collecting and recycling discarded electronics, according to estimates released on Tuesday by the Iraq Green Observatory, an environmental watchdog.

The figures come as global electronic waste continues to rise. The United Nations' Global E-waste Monitor 2024 reported that the world generated 62 million metric tons of e-waste in 2022, a figure projected to increase to 82 million tons by 2030.

Based on population density and international generation rates, Baghdad accounts for an estimated 60,000 to 90,000 tons of electronic waste annually, followed by Basra with 25,000 to 40,000 tons.

Much of Iraq's electronic waste ends up in landfills or is burned and dismantled in informal scrapyards without environmental safeguards, releasing hazardous substances including lead, mercury, cadmium, and dioxins into the air, soil, and groundwater. The World Health Organization warned that these pollutants pose serious health risks, particularly to children and workers involved in informal recycling.

The report also noted that recoverable raw materials in electronic waste are worth an estimated $91 billion globally each year, but much of that value is lost in Iraq due to weak collection, sorting, and recycling systems.

It called for legislation to regulate electronic waste management, the establishment of specialized collection centers, a ban on unsafe burning and dismantling practices, and producer responsibility schemes that require importers to collect used electronics and batteries when selling new products.

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