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E-Waste Calculator

Estimate electronic waste generated and the embodied carbon in device replacement.

About E-Waste Calculator

Manufacturing accounts for most of a device's lifetime emissions, so annual impact is the embodied carbon divided by how long the device is kept. Extending a laptop from four to five years cuts its annual footprint by a fifth. Keeping devices longer reduces emissions more than any efficiency gain in a new model, because the manufacturing cost is paid up front regardless.

Formula

E-Waste

Annual impact = device embodied carbon ÷ replacement interval, summed across devices

embodied carbon
Emissions from manufacturing, which dominate a device's lifetime total
replacement interval
Years between replacements, the main lever on annual impact

Worked example

With the default values below, E-Waste Calculator returns Annual E-Waste Generated of 2.130. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Phone replacement intervalminimum 0.5 years
2.5 years
Laptop replacement intervalminimum 0.5 years
4 years
Other devices in the householdminimum 0
8
Other device lifespanminimum 0.5 years
6 years
Share properly recycledaccepts 0–100 %
20 %

Results

Annual E-Waste Generated
2.130 kg
Annual Embodied Carbon
261.00 kg CO2e
Devices Discarded per Year
1.98
E-Waste Not Recycled
1.704 kg
Carbon Saved by Extending Life One Year
22.43 kg CO2e

Step by step

  1. 1Values used
  2. 2E-Waste
  3. 3Annual E-Waste Generated= 2.130 kg
  4. 4Annual Embodied Carbon= 261.00 kg CO2e
  5. 5Devices Discarded per Year= 1.98
  6. 6E-Waste Not Recycled= 1.704 kg
  7. 7Carbon Saved by Extending Life One Year= 22.43 kg CO2e

Assumptions and limits

  • The result is derived only from the 5 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
  • In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
  • Figures are rounded for display to 3 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.

How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is E-Waste calculated?

Annual impact = device embodied carbon ÷ replacement interval, summed across devices Manufacturing accounts for most of a device's lifetime emissions, so annual impact is the embodied carbon divided by how long the device is kept. Extending a laptop from four to five years cuts its annual footprint by a fifth.

Why does E-Waste matter?

Keeping devices longer reduces emissions more than any efficiency gain in a new model, because the manufacturing cost is paid up front regardless.

What values do I need to enter?

This calculator takes 5 inputs: Phone replacement interval, Laptop replacement interval, Other devices in the household, Other device lifespan, Share properly recycled. The pre-filled defaults are a realistic starting point — replace them with figures from your own environment for a result you can act on.

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