UN Report: As a continent, Asia generates the highest volume of e-waste

By Anil Mathews

BEIJING (Scrap Monster): A recent study report published by the United Nations University (UNU) and the Japanese Ministry of Environment states that electronic waste in East and Southeast Asia soared higher by 63% over the past five years. The ‘Regional E-waste Monitor’ report, authored by Shunichi Honda, Deepali Sinha Khetriwal and Ruediger Kuehr, further predicts phenomenal rise in e-waste volumes in the region during forthcoming years.

According to the report, the total amount of electronic and electrical equipment (EEE) put on the market has increased sharply from 51.33 million tonnes in 2007 to 56.56 million tonnes in 2012. Also, Asia has emerged as the largest consumer of EEE, accounting for nearly 50% of EEE put on market. The consumption by the Asian region has increased from 20.62 million tonnes in 2005 to 26.69 million tonnes in 2012. Within the region, Eastern region countries such as Japan, China, South Korea and Taiwan has accounted for the majority of EEE consumption.

As a continent, Asia generates the highest volume of e-waste. The e-waste generation was estimated at around 16 million tonnes in 2014. Asia was closely followed by North and South America (11.7 million tonnes), Europe (11.6 million tonnes), Africa (1.9 million tonnes) and Oceania (0.6 million tonnes). However, on per-capita basis, Europe’s e-waste generation stood at 15.6 kilograms, followed by Oceania (15.2 kilograms), North and South America (12.2 kilograms), Africa and Asia (3.7 kilograms each).

The E-waste Monitor focuses on Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Hong Kong, China and Cambodia. In addition to being a region with significant growth rates in EEE consumption, East and Southeast Asia has become a hub for manufacture of electronics. The increased production and consumption of electronics has led to significant rise in e-waste volumes in the region. This in turn has led to rapid growth of formal and informal e-waste recycling industry in the region. A small fraction of the informal sector follows unsound treatment practices, which has badly impacted human health and environment.

The report states that the first step for any country to establish an environmentally sound e-waste management system is the systematic and proper development and maintenance of a national inventory that keeps track of the types and quantities of electronic waste within its borders. Out of the countries in focus, only Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong were found to collect data on e-waste arising and maintain national inventories. Majority of countries in the region lack baseline inventory data on e-waste despite several earlier attempts in partnership with international agencies.

The e-waste arisings across all countries in the East and Southeast Asian region is found outpacing population growth, which indicates the huge volume of electronics products being disposed of. Increasing e-waste volumes are mainly caused by more gadgets, more consumers, decreasing usage times and rising imports.The main contributor happens to be China, obviously due to its increasing affluent population who always shows much interest in latest gadgets and appliances. The highest per-capita e-waste arising in 2015 was reported in Hong Kong (21.7 kilogram per capita), followed by Singapore (19.95 kg) and China (19.13 kg). The lowest e-waste arising was reported in Cambodia (1.10 kg/capita), Vietnam (1.34 kg/capita) and the Philippines (1.35 kg/capita).

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