ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iraq produces around 150,000 tons of electronic waste annually, with most of it ending up in landfills where it is burned and dismantled “haphazardly,” releasing up to a thousand harmful chemicals, a monitor warned Tuesday.

The Green Iraq Observatory estimated that Baghdad province produces 60,000 to 90,000 tons of e-waste, followed by Basra, which produces between 25,000 to 40,000 tons, with the two provinces making most of the total 150,000. 

Most of the waste ends up in landfills where it ends up being “burned and dismantled haphazardly within scrap yards, without any safe treatment,” the monitor added in a statement, warning that it is becoming a “growing environmental and health crisis that threatens soil and water resources in the absence of a specialized national system for its management.”

“This leads to the release of up to a thousand harmful chemicals, including lead, mercury, cadmium, and dioxins, which the World Health Organization confirms pollute the air, soil, and water, posing serious health risks, especially to children and workers at unregulated dismantling sites,” it said.

Last year, Baghdad ranked 13th globally among the world’s most polluted cities, according to the Swiss agency IQAir. The Iraqi capital has been experiencing intense pollution, with a lack of environmental control and excessive waste burning exacerbating the effects.

The UN’s Global E-waste Monitor 2024 report said that 62 million tons of e-waste were produced globally in 2022, with an estimated rise to 82 million tons by 2030.

“The 62 million tonnes of e-waste generated in 2022 would fill 1.55 million 40-tonne trucks, roughly enough trucks to form a bumper-to-bumper line encircling the equator,” it added.

The Iraq Green Observatory called for a national law for managing e-waste, specialized centers for its collection and recycling, and the prohibition of indiscriminate burning and dismantling.