Green IT was the theme of this year’s Gartner Symposium Africa, held this week in Cape Town. Over the course of the event speakers rolled out facts and figures on e-waste and the impact information technology is having on the environment. Here are a few of the many stood out for us:

460 000 – The number of PCs that reach “end-of-life” every day.
550 million – The number of mobile phones that reach “end-of-life” every year.
2% – The contribution of the IT industry to global carbon dioxide emissions, roughly equivalent to the output of the airline industry.
60% – The percentage of toxicity in landfill sites due to e-waste.
2%-3% – The percentage of landfill sites that are e-waste.
95%-98% – The percentage of PC materials that can be recycled.
6 ounces – The typical yield of gold from 1 ton of PC boards.
1 ounce – The typical gold yield from 1 ton of rock.