Fall in e-waste generation in poor countries shows growing digital divide, report says

E-waste in poor countries is managed inappropriately by the informal sector in open burning and acid baths, which are polluting the environment and depleting valuable resources

(Subscribe to our Today's Cache newsletter for a quick snapshot of top 5 tech stories. Click to subscribe for free.) Lower consumption of electronic and electrical devices in the first nine months of 2020 (compared to a "business-as-usual" scenario) led to a drop in e-waste generation by 4.9 million metric tonnes. But low- and middle-income countries reported a 30% fall in e-waste, compared to just 5% in high-income countries, according to a report by the United Nations University and the UN Institute for Training and Research titled 'Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on e-waste - First three quarters of 2020'. The inequality in e-waste generation indicates a growing digital divide between rich and poor countries. "The population in low- and middle-income countries is continuously growing the gap of having access to modern communication technologies and other electronics, the so-called digital divide is increasing," the authors noted.