Computers, laptops, monitors, routers, and other IT equipment make up a significant part of the world’s growing electronic waste stream. The challenge is that there is no reliable global counter telling us exactly how many individual computers are discarded every year.
The better data looks at recognized categories such as small IT equipment, telecommunications equipment, screens, and broader consumer electronics.
According to the International Telecommunication Union, 4.6 million tonnes of small IT and telecommunications equipment became e-waste globally in 2022. That category includes equipment such as laptops, mobile phones, GPS devices, and routers. Only 22% of this waste was documented as formally collected and recycled.
The numbers become even larger when screens are included. Waste from screens and small IT equipment reached 10.5 million tons globally in 2022, after increasing substantially over the previous decade.
These statistics give us a much better picture of the scale of computer and IT waste than unsupported claims about how many individual computers are supposedly thrown away each day.
How Much Computer and IT E-Waste is Generated?
The most useful global category for understanding computer related waste is what the Global E-waste Monitor calls small IT and telecommunication equipment.
In 2022, that category accounted for 4.6 million tonnes of e-waste worldwide.
It is important to understand exactly what that number means.
It does not mean the world threw away 4.6 million tonnes of desktop and laptop computers.
The category combines multiple types of smaller technology, including:
- Laptops
- Mobile phones
- Routers
- GPS devices
- Other small IT and telecommunications equipment
Desktop computers may also be classified differently depending on the dataset and equipment characteristics. That is one reason responsible statistical reporting should avoid converting the 4.6 million tonne figure into a supposedly precise number of discarded computers.
The statistic is still extremely useful. It shows that even one relatively narrow segment of electronic equipment generates millions of tonnes of waste in a single year.
And when screens are considered alongside small IT equipment, the scale becomes substantially larger.
Computer and IT E-Waste Statistics at a Glance
Here are some of the strongest current statistics for understanding computer and IT waste:
- 4.6 million tonnes: Small IT and telecommunications equipment that became e-waste worldwide in 2022.
- 22%: Share of small IT and telecommunications e-waste documented as formally collected and recycled in 2022.
- 10.5 million tons: Waste from screens and small IT equipment worldwide in 2022.
- 30%: Increase in waste from screens and small IT equipment between 2010 and 2022.
- 603,000 tonnes: Small IT e-waste generated in the United States in 2022.
- 852,000 tonnes: Screen e-waste generated in the United States in 2022.
- About 1.455 million tonnes: Combined U.S. total for the small IT and screen categories in 2022, calculated from the two: category totals above.
- Approximately 800 kg of raw materials: Estimated amount of raw material extraction associated with manufacturing a 2 kg computer.
The important thing is that these numbers measure different parts of the IT waste problem. They should not be combined or compared without understanding what each category includes.
IT and Screen Waste Increased 30% From 2010 to 2022
Computer and IT waste is not simply large. It has also grown.
According to UN Trade and Development, waste from screens and small IT equipment increased by 30% between 2010 and 2022, reaching 10.5 million tons globally.
That increase occurred as digital technology became more deeply integrated into homes, businesses, schools, healthcare systems, government operations, communications infrastructure, and nearly every other part of the economy.
The statistic is especially relevant because a modern IT environment involves much more than one computer.
A business workstation may include a laptop or desktop, one or more monitors, networking hardware, peripheral devices, chargers, docking equipment, and storage devices. Larger organizations can have thousands of these assets operating at the same time.
As hardware is upgraded, damaged, replaced, or retired, those devices gradually enter the electronics waste stream.
The 30% growth statistic therefore reflects more than people simply throwing away more laptops. It reflects the expansion of the broader physical infrastructure required to support an increasingly digital economy.
Readers looking specifically at the environmental effects of manufacturing and using computers can explore EACR’s guide to the environmental impact of computers. This article is focused specifically on what the waste statistics tell us.
Only 22% of Small IT E-Waste Was Formally Collected and Recycled
Generation is only half of the story.
Of the 4.6 million tonnes of small IT and telecommunications e-waste generated in 2022, only 22% was documented as formally collected and recycled.
That means roughly 78% was not documented as formally collected and recycled through those systems.
The wording matters.
It would be inaccurate to automatically say that the remaining 78% went into landfills. The statistic does not prove that.
Equipment outside the documented formal recycling stream can follow several different paths. Some devices may remain stored in homes or businesses. Others may move through informal recycling or reuse systems, be exported, enter mixed waste streams, or be managed through channels not captured in formal collection data.
The defensible conclusion is simpler:
A large majority of small IT e-waste was not captured in documented formal collection and recycling systems.
That leaves considerable room for improvement as the amount of discarded technology continues to grow.
For businesses in particular, IT retirement often happens in batches. A company may replace hundreds of laptops during an equipment refresh, remove servers during a data center project, or accumulate monitors and peripherals over several years.
Those larger volumes make organized electronics recycling especially important because organizations need a repeatable way to manage outdated equipment rather than allowing it to sit indefinitely in storage.
How Much IT E-Waste Does the United States Generate?
The United States represents a significant part of the global IT waste stream.
According to the Global E-waste Statistics Partnership, the United States generated approximately 603,000 tonnes of small IT e-waste in 2022. It also generated another 852,000 tonnes of screen e-waste during the same year.
Combined, those two categories equal approximately:
1.455 million tonnes of small IT and screen e-waste in the United States in 2022.
That combined figure is our calculation based on the two published category totals. It should not be described as 1.455 million tonnes of discarded computers.
The screen category includes displays beyond computer monitors, while small IT includes devices beyond laptops.
Still, the comparison is useful because computers and IT environments commonly depend on both categories.
The U.S. figures also show why counting individual devices can become misleading. A lightweight router, laptop, desktop system, and large monitor can all enter an electronics recycling stream while contributing very different amounts of weight.
Measuring e-waste by mass creates a consistent way to compare waste streams without pretending every discarded device is equivalent.
How Many Computers Are Thrown Away Each Year?
There is no reliable current U.S. government statistic that tells us exactly how many individual computers are thrown away every year.
That is worth stating clearly because many websites repeat extremely specific figures without explaining where they came from or how old the underlying data is.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA’s national Facts and Figures dataset does not currently break electronic waste into separate categories for computers and cell phones.
Instead, EPA uses a broader category called Selected Consumer Electronics.
That group includes products such as:
- Computer equipment
- Televisions
- Cell phones
- Telephones
- DVD players
- VCRs
- Video cameras
- Fax machines
- Other selected electronics
EPA’s most recent data for this national series is from 2018. During that year, approximately 2.7 million tons of selected consumer electronics were generated, while 1.04 million tons were collected for recycling, resulting in a 38.5% recovery rate.
Those numbers are useful for historical U.S. context, but they are not a computer waste statistic.
We should not take a dataset containing televisions, phones, computers, cameras, and other products and relabel the entire figure as discarded computers.
A 2 kg Computer Can Represent Far More Raw Material
The weight of an old computer does not tell the entire material story behind that device.
UN Trade and Development estimates that producing a 2 kg computer can involve extracting approximately 800 kg of raw materials.
That is roughly 400 times the finished computer’s weight.
The statistic does not mean there are 800 kg of recoverable material inside a 2 kg computer. It refers to the upstream raw materials associated with producing the finished device.
That distinction is critical.
Mining, refining, manufacturing, component production, and assembly all occur before a computer reaches a desk. Metals and other resources may pass through several stages before becoming components such as circuit boards, processors, wiring, storage devices, cases, and power systems.
When a computer becomes e-waste, the physical device may weigh only a few kilograms, but the resources associated with producing it extend far beyond the mass sitting in front of us.
That is one reason recycling and extending equipment life can matter even when an individual computer seems relatively small.
What Materials Can Be Recovered From Old Computers?
Computers contain a mixture of recyclable components and materials.
Depending on the device, these can include steel, aluminum, copper, plastics, circuit boards, wiring, storage drives, processors, memory, and other electronic components.
The statistical point is that millions of tonnes of IT equipment represent millions of tonnes of physical material moving through the economy.
When that equipment is properly collected, recyclable materials have an opportunity to move into recovery streams instead of remaining stored indefinitely or entering inappropriate disposal channels.
The energy implications can also be substantial.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s electronics recycling guidance, recycling one million laptops saves energy equivalent to the annual electricity use of more than 3,500 U.S. homes.
EPA continues to publish this comparison, although it is based on an older underlying estimate. It is best treated as an illustration of the potential energy benefits of material recovery rather than a current measurement of every modern laptop recycling project.
Why Businesses Need to Pay Attention to IT Waste
IT waste can accumulate differently in an organization than it does in a household.
A consumer might replace one laptop every several years. A business, school, hospital, municipality, or government agency can retire hundreds or thousands of devices during a single technology refresh.
That can include:
- Desktop computers
- Laptops
- Monitors
- Servers
- Network switches
- Routers
- Storage equipment
- Keyboards and mice
- Printers
- Cables
- Power supplies
- Backup equipment
Old IT assets may also contain sensitive organizational data, which makes their retirement different from disposing of ordinary office equipment.
The global statistics reinforce why organizations need a defined plan. Small IT already represents 4.6 million tonnes of e-waste annually, and screens plus small IT reached 10.5 million tons in 2022.
What Computer E-Waste Statistics Actually Tell Us
There is no single statistic that completely describes computer waste.
The strongest current datasets instead give us several pieces of the picture.
Globally, 4.6 million tonnes of small IT and telecommunications equipment became e-waste in 2022. Only 22% was documented as formally collected and recycled.
When screens are combined with small IT equipment, the waste stream reached 10.5 million tons in 2022, representing a 30% increase from 2010.
In the United States, the Global E-waste Statistics Partnership estimates 603,000 tonnes of small IT waste and 852,000 tonnes of screen waste in 2022.
Meanwhile, the production of a relatively small computer can represent hundreds of kilograms of upstream raw material extraction.
Taken together, the data tells us something more useful than a questionable estimate of how many computers are thrown away every second.
Computer and IT waste already represents a multimillion tonne global material stream, that stream has grown significantly, and a large portion is still not documented as entering formal collection and recycling systems.
As computers, displays, networking hardware, and other digital equipment continue to play a larger role in everyday life and business operations, managing the equipment at the end of its useful life becomes part of managing the technology itself.
Organizations with outdated computers, monitors, servers, or other IT assets can work with EACR Inc. to plan responsible electronics collection and recycling based on the type and quantity of equipment being retired.
