BIR Partners with UNITAR to Develop Next Global E-Waste Monitor and Expand Worldwide Recycling Research

The newly announced partnership will work together to assess the true impacts of electronics recycling.

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) has announced a strategic collaboration with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) to jointly develop the next edition of the Global E-Waste Monitor, a key global assessment of electronic waste trends and recycling progress.

This new partnership marks a major step toward broadening the study’s scope beyond Europe to a truly global scale. The joint initiative aims to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the environmental and economic impacts of e-waste recycling, while identifying innovative solutions to recover valuable secondary raw materials from discarded electronic products.

The announcement was made during the Electrics, Electronics & EV Batteries Committee session at the BIR World Recycling Convention & Exhibition 2025, held in Bangkok, Thailand, on October 27, 2025.

During the session, Dr. Kees Balde, Senior Scientific Specialist at UNITAR, highlighted key findings from the 2024 Global E-Waste Monitor, which reported that global e-waste generation reached 62 billion kilograms (7.8 kg per person) in 2022. Shockingly, only 22.3% of that waste was properly collected and recycled.

Looking ahead, UNITAR projects global e-waste volumes could surge to 82 billion kilograms by 2030, underscoring the urgent need for international cooperation, stronger recycling infrastructure, and data-driven policies to manage the growing waste challenge sustainably.

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