During the last few years, the negative impact caused by e-waste has been a bit of a hot topic for me, so I was disappointed - but not surprised - to read that the UK is lagging behind other countries in terms of e-waste.

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Almost all of us buy used cars, many are happy to buy second hand clothes or furniture, yet fewer of us seem happy to buy used electronics.  This was less of an issue when our electronic footprint consisted of a TV, a radio and a washing machine.  But with the addition of laptops, tablets and smartphones, not to mention smart speakers, watches, routers and other digital chaff, our electronic footprint has exploded. Who hasn't got a drawer full of old cables discarded?

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Progress has been painfully slow.  The EU common charger law was finally adopted last year after a 10 year wait.  Many mobile devices now come without chargers as standard but there are still huge volumes of e-waste cluttering up people's homes.

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I don't think there's a lack of interest in doing the right thing about e-waste, but it's unclear to the public where they should go to ensure ethical recycling.  Stripping electronics down to components is not usually financially viable so many of the responsible recyclers subsidise the true 'end of life' products by reselling viable components or devices.  Sadly others only focus on commercially viable products and ship the remainder to other countries. What's needed is a clear, visible and local route for people to recycle electronics simply with a clear audit path to ensure compliance.

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As acceptance of buying used devices grows, hopefully more people will consider buying pre-owned.  For the last 12 months, The Jargon Group has only bought used devices for our people who need a replacement laptop.  We've likely bought more than a dozen devices and had very few issues.  I'm hoping larger businesses will do the same - because as well as being the right thing to do, it's also a visible demonstration of how a business is 'walking the walk' in sustainability.

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My colleague Will Herman has written a blog on exactly this topic.  You can give it a read here.