Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate her Department has made of the volume of electronic waste generated annually by the premature withdrawal of software and cloud infrastructure support for functional hardware devices.

Defra does not have an assessment of the volume of electronic waste generated as a result of the withdrawal of support.

Defra takes electronic waste seriously. Electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) is regulated to incentivise reduction in the amount of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE).

The regulations require producers to report products they place on the market in the 15 EEE categories. Producers must then finance collections and treatment of a proportionate amount of household WEEE each year.

Reports on EEE and WEEE are available on GOV.UK here. The data does not specify the reason for the waste arising.