The world discarded 53.6 million tons of e-waste in 2019. Only 17.4% of it, in 2019, was recycled, the United Nations reports.
Every year up to 250 million phones are being replaced by the new models, but only 20% of the old phones are actually being recycled. The United Nations estimates that global e-waste volumes could increase by as much as 39% to 74.7 million tons a year by 2030.