From technological progress to tackling the mounting challenge of electronic waste

Electronics have transformed modern life, but their afterlife tells a different story - a mounting e-waste crisis, the now fastest growing waste stream on Earth, with fewer than a quarter properly recycled. This is not only unsustainable but a lost opportunity, as billions of recoverable materials are discarded each year. Tomaso Manca of Hiro Robotics shows that the same technologies driving rapid innovation can also help us close the loop. Robotics and artificial intelligence can help to disassemble, recover and repurpose valuable components that power our digital world.

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Over the last few decades, electronics have transformed our lives. Devices have become smaller, smarter and more connected, reshaping how we work, communicate and live. Yet one crucial question remains largely unanswered: what happens when technology reaches the end of its life?

While innovation has moved at lightning speed, the way we handle obsolete devices has not kept pace. The result is a rapidly growing environmental and economic challenge: electronic waste.

According to the Global E-Waste Monitor 2024, humanity generated 62 million tons of e-waste in 2022 - an 82% increase since 2010. Only 22.3% of that waste was formally collected and recycled in an environmentally sound way. The rest was landfilled, burned or processed informally.

E-waste is now the fastest-growing waste stream in the world, expanding about five times faster than documented recycling capacity. To visualise it, the annual pile of discarded electronics would fill roughly 1.55 million trucks, forming a line around the Earth's equator.

Beyond volume, the hidden danger lies in toxic substances - mercury, lead, cadmium, brominated flame retardants - that harm workers, pollute soil and water, and enter food chains. Communities near informal recycling hubs such as Agbogbloshie in Ghana continue to face severe health risks, including respiratory diseases and heavy-metal poisoning.

At the same time, e-waste holds tremendous untapped value. The 2024 Monitor estimates that discarded electronics contained US$ 91 billion worth of recoverable materials - from gold and copper to rare earths - of which only about US$ 28 billion is currently recovered each. The problem, therefore, also contains its own solution.

Building the conditions for change

Addressing electronic waste effectively requires more than technology alone. It depends on the interaction of five key pillars: regulation, infrastructure, economic viability, market sentiment and cooperation.

1. Effective and forward-looking regulation

Robust policy frameworks - such as the EU's Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) Directive and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes - set the foundation for accountability and innovation. However, regulation must evolve beyond collection targets. It should encourage design for disassembly, modularity and traceable recycling processes that make end-of-life treatment both feasible and profitable.

2. Infrastructure that connects every stage

Even the best recycling technology is useless without a reliable flow of material. Countries need a distributed network of collection and pre-treatment hubs that can aggregate and sort devices efficiently before they reach specialised recycling plants. Streamlined logistics lower costs, reduce emissions and enable local economies of scale.

3. A viable economic model

Recycling will only thrive if it makes business sense. The balance depends on multiple factors: stable prices for secondary raw materials, internalisation of environmental costs for polluting alternatives, growing demand for certified recycled inputs and modular technologies that can adapt across different waste categories.

When these forces align, circular innovation becomes self-reinforcing rather than subsidised.

4. Market sentiment and responsible procurement

Corporate buyers and public authorities hold significant power. By requiring transparency, traceability and recycled content in the products they purchase, they can reshape the economics of recovery. Procurement can drive a cultural shift: waste management stops being a regulatory obligation and becomes a competitive differentiator.

5. Cross-sector cooperation

No single actor can solve the e-waste crisis. Governments, producers, recyclers and research institutions must collaborate to create open standards, share data and co-invest in pilot projects. This cooperative approach transforms fragmented efforts into a coherent system - one capable of scaling both innovation and impact.

When these five elements balance each other, technology can finally find fertile ground to make a lasting difference.

Turning robotics and AI into tools for circularity

At Hiro Robotics, we believe that the technologies once designed to build new products can - and should - be adapted to disassemble them at the end of their life.

Today, most e-waste is either dismantled manually - a slow, risky process for operators - or shredded indiscriminately, which destroys valuable components and mixes hazardous materials. Robotics and artificial intelligence offer a third path: selective, intelligent disassembly.

This approach guides Hiro's research and industrial systems:

• Hiro TEIA disassembles flat-panel displays such as TVs and monitors, automating one of the most delicate and dangerous recycling tasks.
• Hiro MAIA unscrews and separates industrial and telecom devices, such as servers and network modules, recovering intact components.
• Hiro NISA uses computer vision and AI sorting to classify printed-circuit boards by material and residual value.

Each system translates a circular-design philosophy into industrial practice: maximising recovery, minimising risk, and providing data for material traceability.

Our R&D team continues to extend these methods to more complex products, such as electric-vehicle batteries and tightly sealed consumer devices. Yet even with advanced technology, success depends on broader alignment: companies must be willing to evolve their processes and policymakers must create frameworks that reward sustainable transition.

Beyond the 'dark side' of technology

Electronic waste is often seen as the dark side of progress - a consequence of our appetite for innovation. But technology itself is not the enemy. When guided by thoughtful regulation, smart infrastructure, sound economics and cross-sector collaboration, technology can become a key part of the solution.

Robotics and AI can help us see waste differently: not as a by-product of consumption, but as a resource stream to be managed intelligently.

The global e-waste challenge is enormous - 62 million tons and growing - but so is the opportunity. If we act collectively, the same ingenuity that created our digital world can help us repair it: turning discarded electronics into the raw material for a truly circular future.

2025 is a critical year for the Paris Agreement. Ten years on, we need to rethink how we frame the challenge. And seeing challenges differently is what business and we are all about.

ICC is committed to securing what businesses need at the upcoming climate negotiations, COP30, in Belém, Brazil. Learn more about our Opportunity of a Lifetime climate campaign and how to get involved.

*Disclaimer: The content of this article may not reflect the official views of the International Chamber of Commerce. The opinions expressed are solely those of the authors and other contributors.