The plastic waste problem gets plenty of attention, and for good reason: If we continue mismanaging this material as usual, there could be 7.7 gigatons of the stuff cluttering landfills, waterways and oceans, or being incinerated by 2040.

Just as stunning: Plastic isn't the fastest growing waste stream the world needs to deal with.

According to research released over the past 18 months by the International Telecommunications Union, that honor actually goes to various forms of electronics — ranging from mobile phones to appliances such as vacuum cleaners (the biggest part of the e-waste stream today) to refrigerators, air conditioners and other heat-exchange systems (the fastest growing part of the e-waste universe). That trend is the motivation for a "significant strategic investment" this week — the amount isn’t being disclosed — by investment firm Closed Loop Partners in ERI, the largest IT recycling and refurbishment company in the United States.

More details in a moment. First, consider the problem. "Each year, approximately 50 million tonnes of electronic and electrical waste (e-waste) are produced, equivalent in weight to all commercial aircraft ever built; only 20 percent is formally recycled," write the authors of a report published by the World Economic Forum in 2019. "If nothing is done, the amount of waste will more than double by 2050, to 120 million tonnes annually."
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Some key moments. In March, a group of organizations — including representatives of manufacturers and technology service providers such as Accenture, Cisco, Dell Technologies, Google and Microsoft — came together to create the Circular Electronics Partnership, focused on co-defining solutions for applying circular business practices to electronic devices, including the terminology used to describe them and trace them. The alliance has six founding members: GeSi; Global Electronics Council; Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy; Responsible Business Alliance; World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD); and World Economic Forum (WEF). Several months later, France’s Back Market, the world’s largest recommerce marketplace for refurbished electronics with more than 5 million customers, raised $335 million to expand its services. The new funding makes Back Market a triple unicorn, valued at $3.2 billion.

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