On a global scale, it is estimated that over 50 million tonnes of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) was produced in 2019. Small domestic electronic products make up the majority of this WEEE, with 8% of the weight coming from PCB'S.

The current PCB's are constructed from epoxy resin and fibreglass; the only commercial method of processing waste PCBs involves shredding and incinerating them to extract the precious metals within. This is a very inefficient process (substantial loss of materials) and it releases toxins such as cyanide, mercury and dioxins into the environment. The minimal financial gain means that PCBs are often not even removed from products, and going directly into waste. So high numbers of WEEE are illegally exported out of Europe in order to avoid processing it. It is estimated that only 17% of European e-waste is properly tracked for collection and recycling, resulting in over 17,500 shipping containers of e-waste being illegally exported from the EU every year.