Final Report For The BIR E Scrap Committee May 2018 PDF

STATISTICS ON THE NATIONAL
ARISINGS OF E-SCRAP AND THE

MOVEMENT OF E-SCRAP BETWEEN
COUNTRIES
May 2018
FUNDED BY THE BUREAU OF INTERNATIONAL RECYCLING (BIR)
Authored by: K.E. Lasaridi, E. Terzis, C. Chroni, K. Abeliotis

Corrigendum
1. Figure 5.1
For 1,808,362 read 1,825,000
2. Figure 5.2
For Population(thousands) read Population (thousands)
3. Figure 5.4
For 4,692,702 read 4,639,000
4. Figure 5.5
For (tn) read (Mt)
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Table of Contents
TERMINOLOGY .................................................................................................................................................... 5
Abbreviations and acronyms ............................................................................................................................... 5
Glossary of terms................................................................................................................................................. 6
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................. 8
1. SCOPE OF THE STUDY ...................................................................................................................... 11

2. WHAT IS E-SCRAP? A DEFINITION.................................................................................................. 13
3. METHODOLOGY: DETERMINING THE E-SCRAP QUANTITY WORLDWIDE .......................... 15
3.1. The desk study .................................................................................................................................... 16
3.2. Calculation of sales and e-scrap generated ................................................................................... 16
3.3. Projections of e-scrap arisings.......................................................................................................... 19
3.4. Limitations of available data .............................................................................................................. 20
4. THE RECORDED QUANTITY OF E-SCRAP WORLDWIDE: REVIEW OF PUBLISHED DATA
21
4.1 Africa ...................................................................................................................................................... 21
4.2 Asia-Pacific ........................................................................................................................................... 22
4.3 Eastern Europe .................................................................................................................................... 22
4.4 Latin America & Caribbean ................................................................................................................ 23
4.5 USA & Canada ..................................................................................................................................... 23
4.6 Western Europe and others (except USA and Canada) ................................................................ 23
4.7 Constraints for the desk study ........................................................................................................... 23
5. GLOBAL E-SCRAP GENERATION: REGIONAL ANALYSIS ......................................................... 29
5.1. Overview .............................................................................................................................................. 29
5.2. Africa ..................................................................................................................................................... 31
5.3 Asia-Pacific ........................................................................................................................................... 33

5.4 Eastern Europe .................................................................................................................................... 35
5.5 USA & Canada ..................................................................................................................................... 37
5.6 Latin America & Caribbean ................................................................................................................ 37
5.7 Western Europe and Others (except USA and Canada). .............................................................. 39
6. TRANSBOUNDARY MOVEMENT OF E-SCRAP ............................................................................. 41
6.1 Regulatory framework ......................................................................................................................... 41

6.2 The e-scrap trade................................................................................................................................. 43
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6.3 International trade routes of e-scrap ................................................................................................. 44
7. CONCLUSIONS ..................................................................................................................................... 48
8. REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................................... 52
8.1 Bibliography .......................................................................................................................................... 57
9. APPENDICES ......................................................................................................................................... 58
Appendix 1: Classification of electrical and electronic equipment and e-scrap (UNU-KEYs)......... 59
Appendix 2: Use of the Weibull Distribution to calculate e-scrap generation .................................... 70
Appendix 3: Classification of e-scrap generated per country in 2016 ................................................ 74

Appendix 4: Classification: E-scrap collection data from official take-back systems ....................... 79
Appendix 5: Identification of E-waste at Customs ................................................................................. 80
ABOUT HAROKOPIO UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS (HUA) ....................................................................... 82
THE AUTHORS .............................................................................................................................................. 82
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TERMINOLOGY
Abbreviations and acronyms

BIR Bureau of International Recycling Aisbl
CD Compact Disc
DVD Digital Video Disc
EEE Electrical and Electronic Equipment
EoL-EEE End-of-Life Electrical and Electronic Equipment.
EPR Extended Producer Responsibility
E-scrap Defined for the purposes of this report as: Used and End-of-Life large
household appliances, small household appliances, ICT, and consumer
electronics
ESM Environmentally Sound Management
HS Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (“Harmonized
System” for short) (developed by the World Customs Organisation - WCO)
ICT Information and Communications Technology
IMF The International Monetary Fund
ITU International Telecommunication Union
inh Inhabitant
NGO Non-Governmental Organisation
OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
PC Personal Computer
POM Put on the Market
UEEE Used Electrical & Electronic Equipment
UNEP United Nations Environment Programme
UNSD United Nations Statistics Division
UNU United Nations University
VCR Video Cassette Recorder
WCO World Customs Organisation
WEEE Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment
Note: The abbreviations and acronyms listed above are used in both legal texts and in texts not relating
to matters of law or the practice of law. In this report these abbreviations and acronyms have no legal
status and should not be taken to indicate individual countries or regions of the world.
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Glossary of terms
Terminology Description/definition
Component Element with electrical or electronic functionality designed to be connected together
with other components, including by soldering to a printed circuit board, to create
an electric or electronic circuit with a particular function (for example, as an
amplifier, radio receiver, monitor, hard-drive, motherboard or battery).
Direct reuse The using again of fully functional equipment that is not waste, for the same purpose
for which it was conceived, without the necessity of repair or refurbishment.
Environmentally Taking all practicable steps to ensure that hazardous wastes or other wastes are
sound managed in a manner that will protect human health and the environment against
management the adverse effects that may result from such wastes (Article 2, paragraph 8, of the
Basel Convention).
Equipment Electrical and electronic equipment that is dependent on electric currents or
electromagnetic fields in order to work properly, including components that can be
removed from equipment and can be tested for functionality and either be
subsequently directly reused or reused after repair or refurbishment.
Extended The OECD defined EPR as an environmental policy approach in which a producer’s
Producer responsibility for a product is extended to the post-consumer stage of a product’s
Responsibility life cycle. In practice, EPR involves producers taking responsibility for collecting
end-of-life products, and for sorting them before their final treatment, ideally,
recycling. EPR schemes can allow producers to exercise their responsibility either
by providing the financial resources required and/or by taking over the operational
and organisational aspects of the process from municipalities. They can do so
individually or collectively.
Refurbishment Modification of used equipment to increase or restore its performance and/or
functionality or to meet applicable technical standards or regulatory requirements,
with the result of making it a fully functional product to be used for a purpose that is
at least the one for which it was originally intended, including through such activities
as cleaning and data sanitization.
Repair Fixing a specified fault in used equipment that is a waste or a product and/or
replacing defective components of equipment in order to make the equipment a
fully functional product to be used for its originally intended purpose.
Reuse The using again of fully functional equipment that is not waste, for the same purpose
for which it was conceived, possibly after repair or refurbishment.
UNU-KEYS The UNU-KEYS classification comprises 54 categories, where each code describes
a single product or a range of products that have a uniform average weight,
environmental relevancy and market behaviour. This classification links to
harmonized classifications used by statistical offices, such as the PRODCOM and
the Combined Nomenclature (CN).
Waste electrical Electrical or electronic equipment that is waste, including all components, sub-
and electronic assemblies and consumables that are part of the equipment at the time the
equipment equipment becomes waste.
Note: The descriptions and definitions of the terms listed above were developed for the purpose of the
‘UN-EP Technical guidelines on transboundary movements of electrical and electronic waste and used
electrical and electronic equipment, regarding the distinction between waste and non-waste under the
Basel Convention’. However, they should not be considered as having been agreed to internationally.
Their purpose here is to assist readers to better understand this report.
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STUDY CONDUCTED BY
Harokopio University of Athens
School of Environment, Geography and Applied Economics
Eleftheriou Venizelou 70, Kallithea
176 71 Athens, Greece
AUTHORS
Prof. Katia Lasaridi,
Dr. Evangelos Terzis,
Dr. Christina Chroni,
Prof. Kostas Abeliotis
Mr. Evangelos Papadias was responsible for the geographic representation of data;
Ms. Konstantina Boikou contributed to the compilation of data.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The environmentally sound and economically viable management of Electrical and Electronic
Equipment (EEE) is a critical element of a successful circular economy, with both Used (U) and
End-of-Life (EoL) EEE moving within and between countries around the globe. Economic growth;
rapid changes in technology; increased development of and access to Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) networks; reduced costs of electrical and electronic
appliances; the growth of the middle classes in developing countries demanding access to EEE;
and planned obsolescence, have all resulted in rapidly increasing quantities of both Used and
End-of-Life Electrical and Electronic Equipment generated worldwide.
Numerous studies have been commissioned over the years by academia, NGOs, national and
supra-national governmental authorities, as well as others, many attempting to quantify the
volume of EEE, UEEE and EoL-EEE generated within various geographic borders, as well as
the volumes moving across borders. However, due to differing methodologies, assumptions and
even definitions of the above-mentioned terms, it has been difficult to compare and, at times, rely
on such data. It was in this context that the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) sought to
commission a review of all the studies done to date, with the goal of producing a definitive set of
statistics on the generation and movement of e-scrap globally. This Report presents the outcome
of this study, using the most recent available data, along with projections of the generated
quantities of e-scrap in the period 2017-2025.
Scope of the Study and Definitions

E-scrap, for the purposes of this report, means both used and end-of-life electrical and electronic
equipment, in whole or in part. To account for differences that might exist in the types of EEE
included in various data reports that were reviewed (and thus to allow for accurate data analysis
and comparisons), this report breaks E-Scrap down into the following four primary categories:
• Large household appliances, i.e. white goods, such as washing machines, dishwashers,
dryers, refrigerators, freezers, air-conditioners;
• Small household appliances, such as microwaves, vacuum cleaners, irons, toasters,
coffee machines;
• Information and communication technologies, such as Personal Computers (PCs),
laptops, mobile phones, telephones, fax machines, copiers, printers; and
• Consumer electronics, such as television sets, video cameras, Video Cassette Recorders
(VCRs)/Digital Video Disc (DVD)/Compact Disc (CD) players, Hi-Fi sets, radios.
This study also sought to track the movement of e-scrap globally along the following specific
paths of: recycling of both UEEE and EoL-EEE; put for repair and refurbishment before reuse;
for component salvage; or for material recycling. Trade data on movement of UEEE for Direct
Reuse, in other words second hand EEE products, were not separately available.
E-scrap, for the purposes of this report, encompasses a smaller set of end-of-life EEE than what
is usually referred to as Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) or e-waste, but a
larger set of EEE than what is commonly referred to as e-scrap in the USA.
Regardless of the path chosen, through the exploitation of e-scrap the consumption of natural
resources is reduced and there is creation of jobs and growth worldwide.
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Geographic Organization of the Report
The Report is organised across six geographical regions: (1) Africa; (2) Asia-Pacific; (3) Eastern
Europe; (4) Latin America & Caribbean; (5) USA & Canada; and (6) Western Europe and Others
(excluding USA and Canada).
Review Methodology
A thorough desk study on published technical reports and research papers was carried out on
the subjects of: (i) e-scrap arisings; and (ii) transboundary movements of e-scrap. Relevant
papers and reports were identified and then analysed, with emphasis on their data sources,
methodology, and limitations, in order to evaluate, through expert judgment, the relevance of
their data. Published official country statistics were also used, wherever available.
While numerous studies were available and reviewed, there was extreme variability in
methodologies employed and the scope of data collected.
To address the limitations of existing data, an estimation methodology has been applied based
on international EEE trade data, to derive e-scrap quantities arising in 2016. In combination with
projections about Gross Domestic Product (GDP), e-scrap arisings were estimated up to 2025.
Summary of results
In 2016, e-scrap generated worldwide amounted to 41.2 million metric tonnes (Mt), comprising
of: 25.4 Mt large household appliances (washing machines, dishwashers, dryers, refrigerators,
freezers, air-conditioners etc.); 4.9 Mt small household appliances (microwaves, vacuum
cleaners, irons, toasters etc.); 6.7 Mt ICT equipment (PCs, laptops, mobile phones, telephones
etc.); and 4.2 Mt consumer electronics (television sets, video cameras, etc.). This corresponds
to 5.6 kilograms per inhabitant (kg/inh), although this average value hides a vast geographic
variation, from 1.5 kg/inh in Africa to 21.9 kg/inh in USA & Canada.
Table 1. Total and per inhabitant quantity of e-scrap generated in the six geographical regions.
E-scrap
E-scrap Population
generated
generated (kt) (×1000)
(kg/inh)
2016 2025 2016 2025 2016 2025
Africa 1,825 2,635 1,196,824 1,480,630 1.5 1.8
Asia-Pacific 15,914 23,709 4,402,260 4,736,314 3.6 5.0
Eastern Europe 2,841 3,400 292,471 284,929 9.7 11.9
Latin America & Caribbean 3,741 4,639 622,911 677,375 6.0 6.8
USA & Canada 7,877 9,246 360,405 384,150 21.9 24.1
Western Europe and Others
8,990 10,249 445,867 452,630 20.2 22.6
(except USA & Canada)
WORLD 41,186 53,878 7,320,739 8,016,029 5.6 6.7
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The amount of e-scrap is expected to grow to 53.9 Mt in 2025, with an annual growth rate of
around 3.0%, resulting in a more than 30% increase in less than a decade. Taking into account
the projected population growth, a 20% increase in the e-scrap generation per capita is expected
in the same period, resulting in 6.7 kg/inh in 2025.
The United States is the world leader in e-scrap generation, at about 7.3 Mt in 2016. In the same
year, China generated about 5.9 Mt, second only to the United States. USA and Canada,
together with the Western European countries, have the highest per inhabitant generation of e-
scrap, 21.9 and 20.2 kg/inh respectively in 2016. However, the Asia-Pacific region, with low to
moderate per inhabitant generation (3.6 kg/inh), is the highest e-scrap generator in terms of
absolute quantity, with about 15.9 Mt in 2016.
Data are scarce but those available indicate that trade of e-scrap has grown not only from the
developed to the developing countries, but also within developing countries. China has
implemented extensive regulations during the period 2001-2008, including a prohibition on the
import of e-scrap, resulting in decreased flows of e-scrap into the country. In addition, the rapid
growth of electronics use in developing countries is expected to favour the domestic supply of e-
scrap over imports from developed countries. However, available statistics and studies cannot
currently provide sufficiently reliable information on the transboundary movements of e-scrap.
This study provides a solid body of comprehensive data on the quantities of e-scrap worldwide
and their expected increase in the coming years, along with the best available estimates on their
registered movements between countries. Data on separate e-scrap collection and recycling are
presented, wherever available. Overall, the study highlights the challenges and opportunities
related to e-scrap, providing a baseline for the recycling industry and policymakers to plan
effective actions to capture the e-scrap potential for contributing to Circular Economy goals.
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1. SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The use of electronic products has grown substantially in recent years, changing the ways in
which we communicate, access information, and entertain ourselves. The use of electrical
products is also rising as a result of the growing number of people who can acquire them in
several rapidly developing areas of the world. The increase in electrical and electronic equipment
purchases is creating a growing stream of used devices in need of appropriate management.
End-of-Life electrical and electronic equipment (EoL-EEE) is currently considered to be one of
the fastest growing waste streams worldwide, growing at 3-5% per year, especially in OECD
countries where markets are saturated with huge quantities of electrical and electronic goods
(Widmer et al., 2005). EoL-EEE contains diverse substances that pose considerable
environmental and health risks if treated inadequately though crude and inefficient techniques to
extract valuable materials and components. On the other hand, its efficient, environmentally
sound recycling offers substantial opportunities in terms of conserving resources, making
secondary raw materials available to the market, and promoting the goals of a Circular Economy.
Moreover, through repairing, reusing and refurbishing, affordable EEE can be made available to
people that cannot afford new products, also enhancing local economic activities and
employment (Steuer et al., 2017) in full alignment, again, with a Circular Economy.
In the last two decades various countries have proposed and implemented policies, strategies,
and regulations to deal with these challenges. These mainly focus on Extended Producer
Responsibility (EPR) policies. Still, most countries have not adopted such policies and do not
have well-developed and regulated systems for the environmentally sound management of e-
scrap. Especially in less developed countries, handling of both UEEE and EoL-EEE is typified by
high rates of repair, reuse and recovery within a largely informal recycling sector. In both
developed and less developed nations, the landfilling of EoL-EEE is still a concern as it leads
both to environmental degradation and loss of valuable resources.
There are numerous publications dealing with the various aspects of the e-scrap challenge. A
number of these report include some data on the quantities of e-scrap generated in various
countries or regions and/or their movement between countries. However, good quality data are
only available for a limited number of countries. Moreover, differences in the definitions, the range
of e-scrap categories reported, the methodologies used and the year of data reference, severely
restrict the possibility of meaningful comparisons and data aggregation in wider geographic
regions.
In this context, the BIR E-scrap Committee has decided to produce a definitive set of statistics
on the national generation of e-scrap, both UEEE and EoL-EEE, and their movement between
countries, including reuse and recycling data, based on all relevant data from already published
studies and other data sources. This Report presents the outcome of this study, using the most
recent available data, along with projections of the quantities likely to be generated in the period
2017-2025.
The Report is organised for the six Geographical regions as: (1) Africa; (2) Asia-Pacific; (3)
Eastern Europe; (4) Latin America & Caribbean; (5) USA and Canada; and (6) Western Europe
and Others (excluding USA and Canada).
The categories of e-scrap included in the quantities reported in this study cover:
 large household appliances, i.e. white goods, such as washing machines, dishwashers,
dryers, refrigerators, freezers, air-conditioners;
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 small household appliances, such as microwaves, vacuum cleaners, irons, toasters,
coffee machines;
 information and communication technologies, such as Personal Computers (PCs),
laptops, mobile phones, telephones, fax machines, copiers, printers; and
 consumer electronics, such as television sets, video cameras, Video Cassette Recorders
(VCRs)/ Digital Video Disc (DVD)/ Compact Disc (CD) players, Hi-Fi sets, radios.
As officially reported, reliable, detailed and comparable data are only available for a limited
number of countries, an estimation methodology has been applied based on trade data for
Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE).
Overall, this study seeks to provide a solid body of data on the quantities of e-scrap worldwide
today and their expected increase in the coming years, along with the best estimates of their
movements between countries. Data on separate e-scrap collection and recycling are presented,
as well as on reuse, repair and refurbishment, wherever available. Overall, the study highlights
the challenges and opportunities related to e-scrap and provides a baseline for the recycling
industry and policymakers to plan effective actions to capture the e-scrap potential for
contributing to Circular Economy goals.
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2. WHAT IS E-SCRAP? A DEFINITION
The terms “waste electrical and electronic equipment” (WEEE), “e-waste” and “e-scrap” are
commonly used in the literature to describe electrical & electronic equipment that is no longer
wanted by its owner and is therefore taken back to a retailer on purchase of a new item, given
away, sold as e-scrap, or put into a collection scheme for recycling. However, there is a wide
geographic variation in the use and the exact meaning of these terms, with the term WEEE being
dominant in Europe and the term e-scrap in the USA. Moreover, the definition of the three terms
“WEEE”, “e-waste” and “e-scrap” may vary in different countries and the way they are used in
the literature and legislation. In the USA, there is no federal e-scrap law; therefore, there is no
nationwide legal definition of the e-scrap scope. There are, however, state laws where the
inclusion or exclusion of products may vary from state to state. In general, the term e-scrap in
the USA refers mainly to electronic equipment, such as mobile phones, IT equipment and
televisions, whilst electrical appliances such as white goods are not included as they are mostly
regulated as municipal solid waste.
E-scrap, for the purposes of this report, means both used and end-of-life electrical and electronic
equipment, in whole or in part. To account for differences that might exist in the types of EEE
included in various data reports that were reviewed (and thus to allow for accurate data analysis
and comparisons), this report breaks E-Scrap down into the four categories described in Section
1.
E-scrap, for the purposes of this report, encompasses a smaller set of end-of-life EEE than what
is usually referred to as WEEE or e-waste, but a larger set than what is commonly referred to as
e-scrap in the USA. In the report, where applicable, the terms WEEE and e-waste are used
interchangeably, based on the geographic reference and origin of the data.
The selection of the term e-scrap over e-waste or WEEE was made in order to avoid misleading
implications that UEEE and EoL-EEE have no value. On the contrary, e-scrap may carry
significant value, not only in terms of its materials that can be recycled or recovered; items in this
stream may be in good condition, suitable to be directly reused, or reused after repair or
refurbishment, or having reusable components or parts that can be sold for reuse, thus bringing
more value than simply from material recycling into commodity grade scrap.
Determining what is UEEE, EoL-EEE, e-scrap, e-waste or WEEE is important in order to analyse
trade data; however, waste and scrap generally is not differentiated in the World Customs
Organisation Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (HS). The HS identifies
its commodity groups by a six-digit code. The system is used by most countries for the collection
of international trade statistics. The European Commission Implementing Regulation 2016/1245
provides a correlation table between those six-digit codes and the waste codes from the Basel
Convention.
Also related to shipments, on an interim basis, the UNEP Basel Convention has adopted
‘Technical Guidelines on Transboundary Movements of Electrical and Electronic Waste and
Used Electrical and Electronic Equipment, in particular regarding the Distinction between Waste
and Non-Waste under the Basel Convention’ (Document UNEP/CHW.12/5/Add.1/ Rev.1). These
focus on clarifying aspects related to transboundary movements of e-waste and used equipment
that may or may not be waste. They recognise that countries define and evaluate the distinction
between waste and non-waste in different manners when considering used equipment destined,
e.g., for direct reuse or extended use by the original owner for the purpose for which it was
conceived, or for failure analysis, repair and refurbishment. Certain countries may consider used
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equipment destined for failure analysis, repair or refurbishment to be waste, while others may
not. The Guidelines also consider which e-waste is hazardous waste or “other waste” and
therefore which would fall under the provisions of the Basel Convention.
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3. METHODOLOGY: DETERMINING THE E-
SCRAP QUANTITY WORLDWIDE
Quantifying the arisings and the international movements, trade, and traffic of e-scrap, as defined
in this report, based on primary reported data or even estimation methodologies, is an extremely
challenging task.
First, by their own nature, quantities of e-scrap cannot be directly measured, apart from when
they are collected through organised collection systems, which have some type of requirements
for reporting. This is the case for collected quantities of UEEE and EoL-EEE for the limited
number of countries that have and enforce relevant EPR policies and legislation. Assessing e-
scrap quantities collected, for these cases, is fairly straightforward, as e-scrap constitutes a
significant fraction of UEEE and EoL-EEE. Even for such countries, direct data can only exist for
the fraction collected by actors fulfilling reporting obligations and not the fraction collected with
municipal waste or collected by non-reporting actors. According to estimates for the EU, an area
offering the best available relevant data, about one third of UEEE and EoL-EEE is collected by
reporting actors (Eurostat, 2017). For the fraction collected with municipal waste, their
compositional analysis may offer an insight in those countries systematically carrying out such
analyses.
Second, as elaborated in Section 2, there is not a universal definition of e-scrap to allow data
aggregation and comparisons, even in the cases that such direct data are reported.
Third, for many countries, direct data on e-scrap arisings simply do not exist. Therefore,
methodologies need to be developed, and indeed have been developed in the literature (Baldé
et al., 2015a, b), to estimate e-scrap arisings in the different countries worldwide, based on
publicly available data, such as trade data from the United Nations COMTRADE database.
Monitoring transboundary movements of e-scrap poses even more challenges and introduces
significant uncertainties in the results obtained in any methodology applied, due to a variety of
reasons, which are well analysed in Baldé et al. (2016) and Salehabadi (2013) and summarised
below:
• The transboundary movement of UEEE and EoL-EEE is not comprehensively recorded
and when it is, different methodologies are often used.
• Internationally, reporting of EoL-EEE transboundary movement is mainly driven by the
obligations of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of
Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, which however does not specifically address all
types of EoL-EEE, while trade of UEEE falls outside its scope. Moreover, unintentional
and intentional misreporting further complicates the use of such data, while illicit
shipments are obviously not properly reported or registered with customs.
• International trade data for EEE does not distinguish between new and used equipment.
Moreover, in some cases, EoL-EEE may be intentionally misreported as UEEE.
• UEEE and EoL-EEE trade can also be misreported under the Basel Convention waste
codes as Mixed-non-ferrous metal, heavy fraction scrap (B1050) or Solid plastic waste
(B3010).
In this study, the approach adopted to tackle these challenges and data limitations and to compile
the desired information was based on:
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1. a desk study for both e-scrap arisings and transboundary movements;
2. the development and application of an adapted variant of the methodology proposed in
Baldé et al. (2015a, b), using publicly available trade data from the UN COMTRADE
database for the time period 2005-2016 and, for those countries included, EUROSTAT
data on e-scrap arisings calculated on the basis of the officially reported “put on the
market – POM” quantities, available for the period 2005 to 2015; and
3. a projection method for the period 2017 to 2025, based on the relation of the per capita
quantity of e-scrap generated (expressed in kg/inh) to the country per capita GDP, for
each country examined.
3.1. The desk study

A thorough desk study on published papers, as derived from searches in bibliography databases
(scientific literature) and publicly available grey literature (published reports), was carried out on
the subjects of: (i) e-scrap arisings; and (ii) e-scrap and used EEE transboundary movements.
Relevant papers and reports were read and analysed by the experts of the Harokopio University
team, with emphasis on their data sources, methodology, and limitations, in order to evaluate
through expert judgement the relevance of their data. Published official country statistics were
also used, where available and accessible (e.g. EUROSTAT, Statistics Canada, US EPA).
Of the papers and reports examined, those reporting data based on national statistics or
independent evaluations based on specific studies and measurements were used. These are
presented and discussed in Section 4 and summarized in Table 4.1.
A special mention should be made here of the report entitled “The Global E-Waste Monitor, 2014”
by Baldé et al. (2015a) as it has developed a robust methodology for the estimation of e-waste
generation and provides numerical estimates for 175 countries. These estimates are widely
reproduced and utilized in many reports, as well as articles in the scientific literature, often without
clearly indicating that they constitute a calculated estimate. These papers and the report are not
included in Table 4.1 and the relevant discussion, as this includes only reported data wherever
available and not calculated estimates.
3.2. Calculation of sales and e-scrap generated

There are only a few comprehensive data sources on waste statistics that have a global
coverage. Statistics on municipal waste and hazardous waste are compiled by the United Nations
Statistics Division (UNSD) and constitute the most comprehensive database to date that has
global coverage. However, the compiled data are too generalized to obtain sufficient insight into
e-scrap, as used in this study, or UEEE and EoL-EEE in general, so they could not be exploited
for the purposes of this study.
In Europe, the Waste Statistics Regulation in the EU is the main existing measurement
framework for waste production and management. For EoL-EEE specifically, there is a reporting
obligation and target setting in the WEEE Directive for all Member States. Reporting focuses on
the amounts of EEE Put on the Market (POM) and WEEE collected for the current ten1 (and
future six) WEEE categories. From these ten categories for which data are reported, the amount
of e-scrap can be directly derived, as it corresponds to the first four of them. Therefore, for 30
1 1. Large household appliances; 2. Small household appliances; 3. IT and telecommunications equipment; 4.

Consumer equipment; 5. Lighting equipment; 6. Electrical and electronic tools; 7. Toys, leisure and sports
equipment; 8. Medical devices; 9. Monitoring and control instruments; 10. Automatic dispensers.
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countries reported by EUROSTAT the amount of e-scrap collected is directly calculated as the
sum of the first four of the ten reported categories. For the e-scrap generated, the calculation
method described below is applied to the POM quantities corresponding to the product categories
that are included in the e-scrap definition.
The reporting under the WEEE Directive does not include reporting on the transboundary
movement of WEEE; therefore, it cannot be exploited for that purpose.
Most other countries have no comprehensive reporting framework for either EEE put on the
market or e-scrap collected. Thus, there is a need for a calculation framework, based on suitable
harmonized data available for those countries, to ensure a meaningful global estimation of the e-
scrap quantities.
Globally, there exist datasets, such as ‘trade statistics’ or ‘use’ of Information and
Communications Technology (ICT) equipment, for both developed and less developed countries
that strongly relate to e-scrap. These data are available from national statistical institutes or as
harmonized data from international organizations, like the International Telecommunication
Union (ITU), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) or the United
Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). In order to improve comparability between countries, a sound
measurement framework that can integrate the harmonized existing data and serve as the basis
for e-scrap statistics and meaningful indicators needs to be applied, to avoid data limitations due
to data discrepancies between countries.
After examination of the publicly available data sources in respect to their potential and limitations
to serve the scope of this study, the United Nations COMTRADE database was selected for the
countries not covered by EUROSTAT data because of its accessibility and territorial and
historical coverage. The steps followed for the e-scrap arisings calculation are:
i) Selection of the relevant Harmonized System (HS) codes in the COMTRADE
database for the categories of electrical and electronic products that make up the e-
scrap. In total 188 HS codes were selected (Appendix 1).
ii) Extraction of the statistical data for the selected HS codes from the COMTRADE
database for 151 countries (not covered in EUROSTAT) for the period 2005 to 2016.
These are expressed as number of units per product category.
iii) Sales for each product category were calculated using the apparent consumption
relation, according to the relation Sales = Import – Export. This does not take into
account domestic production, therefore introducing an inaccuracy, especially for
countries with significant domestic production. Statistical routines were used to detect
outliers. Detected outliers were replaced with more realistic values either from the
time series of the specific country or from comparable countries.
iv) Calculated sales data (and POM data for EUROSTAT-covered countries) were
grouped into 36 UNU-KEYS product categories (Appendix 1). Products in the same
UNU-KEYS category share similar characteristics, such as weights, material
compositions, and lifespan, thus providing meaningful groupings for further statistical
treatment.
v) The e-scrap generated by each country was calculated by applying the lifespan
distribution to the sales data. This was based on the estimate of the survival
distribution (or rather the cumulative distribution function) for each product category,
using the Weibull distribution (Fig. 3.1 and Fig. 3.2).
17 | P a g e
The Weibull distribution is a probabilistic distribution, which is often used for modelling
product lifespans (Baldé et al., 2015a,b; Nordic Council of Ministers, 2009). In this
study, the variant of the method proposed by the Nordic Council of Ministers (2009)
was used.
The main limitation of the method comes from the scarcity of EEE lifespan data for
different countries. Such estimates exist for a variety of EEE products but only for
some European Union countries; for a few product types some data outside Europe
can be found (e.g. Korea, Japan). However, data are not available for middle and
lower income countries, which are likely to exhibit different survival curves for the
various electrical and electronic goods.
More information on the application of the Weibull lifespan distribution in this study is
provided in Appendix 2.
vi) After calculation of the distribution through time according to which the EEE units in
each UNU-KEY category will appear as e-scrap, these units were converted into
weight using average weight data per category.
vii) After data collection and parameters calculation, based on the classification,
measurement framework and available data sources described, data was compiled
using a reporting matrix (Appendix 3). All indicators are expressed as kilograms per
inhabitant, or as metric tonnes.
viii) For the visualization of the results, a set of maps, one for each of the six geographic
regions, with the calculated values for the year 2016 (and the projected values for the
year 2025) were produced, depicting the per capita generation of e-scrap for each
country of the region. Different value classes are used for each region, reflecting the
wide differences in the per capita generation of e-scrap. For the definition of these
classes, the Jenks method or else the “Jenks natural breaks classification method”
was used. The method tries to find “natural groupings” in a set of values by minimising
the variance within each class, while maximizing the variance between classes. Since
the method is very useful for visualization but not particularly suitable for comparisons,
the break values were slightly adjusted to preferred ones, so as to make comparisons
easier.
Figure 3.1. Weibull cumulative distribution function.
18 | P a g e
Figure 3.2. Weibull probability distribution function.
3.3. Projections of e-scrap arisings

For an estimate of the e-scrap quantities expected in the different world regions in the period
2017 to 2025, a simple projection on the variation of units put on market per year for the different
UNU-KEYS category was made, based on the assumption that the yearly change in EEE
consumption in each country follows the change in GDP. For example, a GDP growth of 2% will
lead to the same growth of sales for all EEE categories. The GDP growth projections were
obtained from the International Monetary Fund (IMF2) for the years 2017 to 2022, for which they
are available. For each year in the period 2023-2025, the same GDP growth as the year 2022 is
considered.
This assumption does not consider that for high-income countries there might be a saturation of
the market, especially for some types of EEE, such as large household appliances. However,
this does not introduce significant inaccuracies, compared to the inherent inaccuracy of GDP
projections for such a lengthy period. Moreover, the expected GDP growth, and therefore the
assumed EEE sales growth, in the higher income countries where market saturation may be of
concern, is modest for the forecasted period. On the other hand, the highest growth is expected
in Southeast Asia, where the market is not expected to become saturated in the forecasting
period.
After projecting the EEE units’ sales for each year of the period 2017-2025, the steps (v) to (vii)
of the methodology described in Section 3.2 were applied, to derive projected e-scrap arisings
per year (calculated in metric tonnes). To convert these on a per capita basis, the projections for
the variation of the population of each country by the UN Population Bureau were used.
2
http://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/NGDP_RPCH@WEO/OEMDC/ADVEC/WEOWORLD?year=2017
19 | P a g e
3.4. Limitations of available data
In addition to the limitations discussed in the description of the different steps of the methodology,
the following remarks should also be considered. Reliable e-scrap data at the global level are not
yet available. Moreover, even where reliable data are available, there are significant issues in
comparing data across countries as to date there is no single standard international definition of
e-scrap. Reported data and datasets in the publications examined in the desk study referred to
different timeframes, making data collation and comparison between countries problematic.
Another limitation that needs to be highlighted is that lifespans are available for a very limited
number of countries. Their universal use inevitably leads to some uncertainty for other countries.
The conversion of units to weight using the average weight data per appliance type can also lead
to errors, as the weight of the appliances varies with the advancement of technology and time.
Moreover, consumption depends on several conditions; the economic capacity of a country’s
population is of paramount importance, but it is not the only factor. Consumer behaviour, lifestyle
trends, technology development and the technical function and lifetime of a product are also
affecting consumption. It is essential that knowledge about these conditions over time is collected
and taken into consideration in similar projections.
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4. THE RECORDED QUANTITY OF E-SCRAP
WORLDWIDE: REVIEW OF PUBLISHED DATA
Aiming at the quantification of e-scrap generation worldwide, an explicit desk study on
benchmarks and literature–based data of the last two decades was conducted. The e-scrap
quantities provided by country and geographical region (Africa, Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe,
Latin America & Caribbean, USA and Canada, and Western Europe & Others [excluding USA
and Canada] are shown in Tables 4.1 and 4.2.
In total more than 150 papers and technical reports were reviewed. In most of the reported cases,
blending or comparison of the available data posed difficulties, as they had been produced using
different definition terms, dissimilar EEE categorisation, varying measurement methodologies
and assumptions. Overall, the identified direct data cover almost 65% of the globe and amount
to the generation of approximately 17,343 kt of e-scrap of various categories per year (Table
4.2).
Given that this figure does not account for all e-scrap categories (i.e. in several countries just a
few categories of e-scrap, such as mobile phones or personal computers, are recorded) or for all
countries, the quantification of e-scrap generation on a global level was calculated through
extrapolation based on known trends in other countries with similar socio-economic and
geographical contexts. Thus, based on the identified sources reporting primary data (not model
calculations), it is estimated that worldwide e-scrap generation in 2016 was approximately 40,000
kt, which agrees with the estimations of Huisman et al. (2008).
The calculated global quantities of e-scrap generation based on the reported data are consistent
with the methodology employed in this study for the estimation of e-scrap, highlighting the value
of this study.
The results of the study for the six geographical regions are provided in Sections 4.1-4.6.
4.1 Africa
Except for four countries, namely Kenya, Nigeria, Morocco, and South Africa, for which data
regarding mainly mobile phones, computers, printers, refrigerators and TVs are provided, there
exist no references on e-scrap quantities generated within the geographical region of Africa.
Therefore, the collected data and consequently the estimated quantities (110 kt per year) cover
only 27% of the total population (Table 4.2) and do not account for all categories of e-scrap.
The amounts of e-scrap as PCs, printers, mobile phones, TVs, and refrigerators generated in
Kenya in the year 2007 were 2.5 kt, 0.5 kt, 0.15 kt, 2.8 kt, and 1.4 kt, respectively (Waema and
Muriethi, 2008; Kinyanjui, 2008).
During the last decade the telecom market in Nigeria has been growing rapidly. As a result,
reports and papers focus mainly on mobile phones and their accessories. Osibanjo and Nnorom
(2007) reported that although the high reparability rate of used mobile phones extends the useful
life of these appliances up to seven years, it is estimated that approximately 12.5 kt of mobile
phone chargers and batteries become e-scrap annually.
South Africa is the only country in the Africa geographical region where data regarding material
recovery activities have been reported (Ogondo et al., 2011). According to Schluep et al. (2009),
59.7 kt of e-scrap (computers, printers, mobile phones, TVs, and refrigerators) were generated
in South Africa in the year 2007.
21 | P a g e
Through the present study the quantity of e-scrap per inhabitant in African countries was
estimated as low as 0.35 kg/inh per year in comparison to the e-scrap generation of 16.3 kg/inh
per year in the Western Europe and Other countries. The low recorded value could be attributed
to a degree to the lack of e-scrap management infrastructure, legislation and monitoring. In the
literature it is often reported that the informal sector (collectors, dismantlers, recyclers) has a key
role in e-scrap processing in the region (Dittke et al., 2008; Rochat and Laissaoui, 2008).
These figures in combination with the fact that the Africa region is a “non-saturated” market for
EEE lead to the conclusion that the penetration of cheaper equipment coupled with the
development of infrastructure would result in a rapid growth of e-scrap generation in African
countries.
4.2 Asia-Pacific
The collected data show that countries of the Asia-Pacific geographical region generate 4,905 kt
of e-scrap per year (Table 4.2). Taking into consideration that population coverage for the
examined studies is 72.6%, and that not all e-scrap categories are recorded, the region might
have taken over the pole position in the generation of e-scrap worldwide.
Regarding e-scrap generation per inhabitant per year, countries of the Asia-Pacific region are
greatly diverse (0.2-18.3 kg/inh), reflecting their differences in social, economic, cultural and
infrastructural context. For instance, Japan is placed at the peak of this range, with a value of
18.3 kg/inh for the year 2014, corresponding to the generation of 2,318 kt of e-scrap. On the
other hand, Vietnam is at the lowest recorded point with 0.2 kg/inh (2014), while Turkey is on 0.5
kg/inh (2012).
At this point it is worth mentioning that several of the countries with low to moderate values of e-
scrap generation per inhabitant have high populations and therefore account for significant
amounts of e-scrap in total. For instance, China has 1,291,485,000 people, leading to a value of
1.4 kg/inh, and generating 1,760 kt of e-scrap in 2003, while India with 0.3 kg/inh generated 383
kt in 2007 (Table 4.2). According to Zeng et al. (2016) and Duan et al. (2016), China is ranked
first in e-scrap generation, taking over from the USA.
The recorded quantity of e-scrap generated by countries of the Asia-Pacific geographical region
is considered as a subset of the total generated amount, as:
▪ Many countries of this region with low e-scrap generation per inhabitant lack infrastructure
for the separate collection, monitoring and management of e-scrap.
▪ A limited number of e-scrap streams are reported in the literature; emphasis is usually put on
computers, mobile phones, and large appliances.
▪ Lack of national regulatory framework or legislation gaps prevent the sufficient monitoring of
e-scrap quantities and composition.
▪ Consumers’ attitude towards e-scrap collection and management schemes has to be formed.
For instance, people seldom dispose of their obsolete or damaged EEE with the prospect
that they might be useful or valuable in the future (Li et al., 2006). It is estimated that 70% of
EoL-EEE is stored in households for months to several years (Ongondo et al., 2009).
4.3 Eastern Europe

In the literature, the availability of e-scrap data in European countries that have not joined the
European Union (EU) is scarce. Thus, the recorded data regarding e-scrap generation in Eastern
Europe, which is comprised mainly of non-EU Member States (MSs) or new EU-MS, cover only
31% of the population.
22 | P a g e
According to the aforementioned data, Eastern Europe generates 871 kt of e-scrap (Table 4.2),
which corresponds to 9.6 kg/inh. In 2014, the per capita quantity of e-scrap generated in the
covered countries ranged from 6.2 kg/inh (Romania) to 14.1 kg/inh (Czech Republic).
4.4 Latin America & Caribbean

The geographical region of Latin America and Caribbean countries is ranked fifth in the
generation of e-scrap. It generates 801 kt of e-scrap per year, corresponding to 2.4 kg/inh (Table
4.2). On a country level, the per capita quantity of e-scrap ranges from 0.2 kg/inh (Colombia) to
3.4 kg/inh (Brazil).
4.5 USA & Canada

Approximately 3,048 kt of e-scrap of TVs, mobile phones, and computer products were generated
in 2014 in the USA, corresponding to 9.5 kg/inh (Table 4.1). Canada generated approximately
638 kt of e-scrap of various types in 2012 (Table 4.1).
The recorded data covers 100% of the population (Table 4.2). However, they do not cover the
whole range of e-scrap, thus the quantity per inhabitant based on the recorded data should be
considered underestimated. Moreover, these numbers might be underestimated because of the
stockpiling of obsolete EEE in households. In the USA, there is a substantial gap between the
electronic appliances that are calculated to be obsolete and the actual quantities of e-scrap
arising (Wagner, 2009). It is estimated that 75% of the obsolete EEE is stored in households.
4.6 Western Europe and others (except USA and Canada)

A decade ago, the USA and Europe were considered as the main generators of e-scrap
(Robinson, 2009). The analysis of the collected e-scrap data indicates that the Western Europe
and Others geographical region has been overtaken by Asia-Pacific countries (taking into
consideration the extrapolation of the recorded quantities). Approximately 7,000 kt of e-scrap are
generated within the Western Europe and Others region annually. The collected data cover 96%
of the region’s population.
4.7 Constraints for the desk study

The major constraint for the literature-based data review was the identification and reliability of
“real” data. In many cases, the data were reported as real, derived from published sources
(technical reports and journals), but in truth, they were just reliable estimations based on well-
tested and widely accepted methodologies and models. A reviewer has to “mine” two or three
references back in order to evaluate whether the data are real or estimated. Therefore, out of
more than 150 papers, only a limited number provided data based on real measurements or
primary reporting.
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Table 4.1. E-scrap generation in selected countries (in regional and chronological order)3
Population E-scrap
Country Year (x1000) tonnes kg/inh E-scrap reported by type Source
Mobile phone chargers and
Nigeria 2001-2006 139,611 12,500 0.1 Osibanjo and Nnorom (2008)
batteries
Computers, printers, refrigerators,
Africa
Kenya 2007 35,349 7,350 0.2 Schluep et al., 2009

mobile phones, TVs
Morocco 2007 30,385 30,400 1.0 TVs, computers, mobile phones Rochat and Laissaoui, 2008
South Africa 2007 48,353 59,650 1.2 Schluep et al., 2009
mobile phones, TVs
PCs, TVs, refrigerators, washing

China 2003 1,291,485 1,760,000 1.4 Yang et al., 20084
machines, air conditioners
Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam

and Stockholm Conventions,
TVs, air-conditioners, Workshop for the Asia and Pacific
Asia-Pacific
Cambodia 2010 14,364 125,180 sets5 refrigerators, computers, mobile Region on the Environmentally
phones Sound Management (ESM) of E-
waste and Forum on their
Transboundary Movements under the
Basel Convention, CASE STUDY ON
Indonesia 2010-2014 254,299 ND6 INVENTORIES OF E-WASTE: An e-
waste study within ASEAN. Beijing,
Malaysia 2014 29,882 ND7 China, 21-24 January 2018.
Philippines 2014 99,078 69,860 0.71 Unspecified WEEE
3
The numerical data in Table 4.1 should not be used as a basis for comparing the selected countries since in some cases there are differences in the types of e-
scrap included in the estimates as well as differences in the periods the assessments were conducted. The purpose of the table is to summarise available key
information, as well as, more importantly, highlight the lack of reliable, comparable, and in some cases, up to date data on e-scrap.
4
Calculated by the HUA working group using data by Yang J, et al. (2008).
5
Estimation of e-waste discarded (TV, AC, refrigerator, computer, mobile phone), in 2009: 223,883 sets and in 2010: 125,180 sets, based on National Inventory
of UEEE in Cambodia (2007).
6
No data available for domestic e-waste generation. The industries in Malaysia generated 57,104 metric tonnes of e-waste in 2014.
7
No data.
24 | P a g e
Population E-scrap
Thailand 2014 67,690 160,538 2.37 Computers, mobile phones, TVs
Vietnam 2014 92,485 18,000 0.20 Unspecified e-waste

TVs, air conditioners, washing
Japan 2014 126,573 2,317,600 18.3 machines, refrigerators, mobile Yolin, 20158
phones, computer products
India 2007 1,144,326 382,979 0.33 MAIT-GTZ, 2007
mobile phones, TVs
TVs, computers, DVD-VCRs,
refrigerators, deep freezers, dish
Turkey 2012 74,849 40,000 0.53 Orztürk, T., 2014
washers, washing machines and
air-conditioners
Computers, TVs, mobile phones
Australia 2007 20,976 60,000 2.86 TEC, 2008
and fluorescent lamps
Cyprus 2014 858.0 7,819 9.1 E-scrap9 EUROSTAT, 2017
Bulgaria 2014 7,246 61,353 8.5 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017
Czech
2014 10,512 148,055 14.1 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017
Eastern Europe
Republic
Hungary 2014 9,877 81,715 8.3 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017
Poland 2014 38,018 411,809 10.8 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017
Romania 2014 19,947 123,694 6.2 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017
Slovakia 2014 5,416 44,785 8.3 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017
8
Calculated by the HUA working group using data by Yolin (2015).
9
E-scrap: Large household appliances, small household appliances, IT and telecommunications equipment, consumer equipment (please refer to the definition
used for the scope of this report, Section 2 “What is e-scrap? A definition”.
25 | P a g e
Population E-scrap
Mobile and fixed phones, TVs,
Brazil 2009 198,614 679,000 3.4 PCs, radios, washing machines, Rocha, 2009
Latin America &
refrigerators and freezers

Caribbean
Domestic WEEE (Excludes white

Argentina 2007 41,223 100,000 2.5 goods, TVs and some consumer Protomastro, 2009
electronics)
Colombia 2007 45,918 6,000-9,000 0.2 Domestic WEEE Silva et al., 2008
Peru 2007 28,293 7,300 0.3 Domestic WEEE Silva et al., 2008
Chile 2007 17,015 7,000 0.4 Domestic WEEE Silva et al., 2008
TVs, mobile phones, computer

USA 2014 319,449 3,048,14110 9.5 US EPA, 2016
products
USA & Canada
Computers, printers, fax

machines, TVs, monitors, audio-
video equipment, mobile phones,
and electronic gaming equipment,
Canada 2012 34,868 638,300 18.3 Statistics Canada, 2016
fridges, freezers, air conditioners,
dehumidifiers, washers, dryers,
microwaves, and other small
household appliances
Denmark 2014 5,627 122,689 21.8 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017

Western Europe & Others
Estonia 2014 1,316 13,014 9.9 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017

(except USA & Canada)
Finland 2014 5,451 98,530 18.1 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017

Sweden 2014 9,465 197,420 20.5 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017
United
2014 64,351 1,359,045 21.1 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017
Kingdom
Iceland 2014 326 6,734 20.7 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017
Latvia 2014 2,001 14,746 7.4 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017
Norway 2014 5,108 122,751 24.0 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017
Ireland 2014 4,606 79,023 17.2 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017
10
1 short ton = 0.9072 metric tonnes
26 | P a g e
Population E-scrap
Lithuania 2014 2,943 26,736 9.1 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017
Belgium 2014 11,181 235,149 21.0 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017
Germany 2014 80,767 1,377,794 17.1 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017
France 2014 65,942 1,315,188 19.9 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017
Luxembourg 2014 549.7 10,393 18.9 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017
Netherlands 2014 16,829 285,394 17.0 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017
Liechtenstein 2014 37.1 302 8.1 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017
Switzerland 2003 7,409 66,042 9.0 Diverse range of WEEE Khetriwal et al., 2009
Austria 2014 8,507 149,407 17.6 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017
Greece 2014 10,927 120,882 11.1 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017
Italy 2014 60,783 728,162 12.0 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017
Malta 2014 425.4 10,722 25.2 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017
Portugal 2014 10,427 107,629 10.3 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017
Slovenia 2014 2,061 26,080 12.7 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017
Spain 2014 46,512 492,405 10.6 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017
Croatia 2014 4,247 33,294 7.8 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017
EU EU-28 2014 506,974 7.682.932 15.2 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017
27 | P a g e
Table 4.2. Total e-scrap in the six geographical regions
Western Europe
Asia- Eastern Latin America
Africa USA & Canada and Others (except WORLD
Pacific Europe & Caribbean
USA and Canada)
Population*
1,186,178 4,432,627 292,943 634,387 354,317 445,499 7,346,075
(×1000)
Population
covered**
317,120 3,216,865 91,017 331,063 357,317 428,837 4,739,219
(% of region’s
(26.7) (72.5) (31.1) (52.2) (100) (96.3) (64.5)
population
covered)
E-scrap (kt) 110 4,868 871 801 3,686 7,007 17,343
E-scrap (kg/inh) 0.35 1.5 8.6 2.4 10.4 16.3 3.7
(*) total population of each geographical region

(**) covered population of the countries recorded in Table 4.1 for the year 2015, according to United Nations, Department of Economic and
Social Affairs, Population Division (2015). World Population Prospects: The 2015 Revision – Special Aggregates, DVD Edition.
28 | P a g e
5. GLOBAL E-SCRAP GENERATION: REGIONAL
ANALYSIS
5.1. Overview
The global quantity of e-scrap (Table 5.1) in 2016 amounted to 41.2 Mt, comprised of 25.4 Mt
large household appliances (washing machines, dishwashers, dryers, refrigerators, freezers, air-
conditioners etc.), 4.9 Mt small household appliances (microwaves, vacuum cleaners, irons,
toasters etc.), 6.7 Mt information and communication equipment (PCs, laptops, mobile phones,
telephones etc.) and 4.2 Mt consumer electronics (television sets, video cameras, etc.). The
amount of e-scrap is expected to grow to 53.9 Mt in 2025, with an annual growth rate of just over
3.0%.
Table 5.1 shows clearly that the largest proportion of the e-scrap in 2016 was generated in the
Asia-Pacific countries: 15.9 Mt, or 3.6 kg for each inhabitant. The highest per inhabitant e-scrap
quantity (21.9 kg/inh) was generated in the USA and Canada geographical region. The Western
Europe and Others (excluding USA and Canada) region generated 8.99 Mt at 20.2 kg/inh. The
lowest quantity of e-scrap was generated in Africa, with 1.8 Mt, which represented 1.5 kg/inh.
The Latin America and Caribbean countries generated 3.7 Mt of e-scrap, which represented 6.0
kg/inh. Eastern Europe countries generated 2.8 Mt e-scrap in total or 9.7 kg/inh.
29 | P a g e
Table 5.1. Global quantity of e-scrap generated and estimated in the six geographical regions
Annual
E-scrap (kt) Population (×1000) E-scrap (kg/inh.)
growth rate
2016 2020 2025 2016-2025 2016 2020 2025 2016 2020 2025
Africa 1,825 2,117 2,635 4.27% 1,196,824 1,318,969 1,480,630 1.5 1.6 1.8
Asia-Pacific 15,914 18,913 23,709 4.53% 4,402,260 4,563,162 4,736,314 3.6 4.1 5.0
Eastern Europe 2,841 3,074 3,400 2.02% 292,471 289,796 284,929 9.7 10.6 11.9
Latin America &
3,741 4,105 4,639 2.42% 622,911 648,332 677,375 6.0 6.3 6.8
Caribbean
USA & Canada 7,877 8,519 9,246 1.80% 360,405 371,145 384,150 21.9 23.0 24.1
Western Europe and
Others (except USA and 8,990 9,518 10,249 1.47% 445,867 449,410 452,630 20.2 21.2 22.6
Canada)
WORLD 41,186 46,246 53,878 3.03% 7,320,739 7,640,814 8,016,029 5.6 6.1 6.7
30 | P a g e
5.2. Africa
In the Africa geographical region, total e-scrap generation was 1.8 Mt in 2016. In 2025 it is
estimated that it will be 2.6 Mt, an increase of almost 47%.
The use of EEE is still very low in Africa compared to other countries in the world, but it is growing
at a fast pace. For example, according to World Bank11 and ITU data12 in the last decade the
penetration rate of personal computers has increased by a factor of 10, while the number of
mobile phone subscribers has increased by a factor of 100. The penetration rate is facilitated by
the intense trade of used EEE, due to which people have access to lower priced, more affordable
EEE.
The African countries with the highest e-scrap generation in absolute quantities are Egypt (0.40
Mt), South Africa (0.30 Mt) and Nigeria (0.22 Mt), followed by Algeria (0.18 Mt). The top three
African countries with the highest e-scrap generation per inhabitant are Seychelles (9.5 kg/inh),
Equatorial Guinea (9.1 kg/inh), and Mauritius (8.6 kg/inh). In contrast, the unit generation of five
countries (Eritrea, Liberia, Niger, Malawi and Mali) is less than 0.2 kg/inh.
On average, African countries generate 1.5 kg/inh of e-scrap (excluding imports) annually, but e-
scrap generation grows annually by 4.3%, second only to the Asia-Pacific countries.
11
World Bank (2010). World Development Indicators. Washington DC, USA: International Bank for Reconstruction
and Development. http://data.worldbank.org.
12
ITU (2008). World Telecommunication ICT Indicators Database, Chronological Time Series 1960-2007. Geneva /
Switzerland: Information Technology Union (ITU). http://www.itu.int.
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Figure 5.1. E-scrap generated in Africa in 2016 and 2025
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5.3 Asia-Pacific
In the Asia-Pacific geographical region, total e-scrap generation in 2016 was 15.9 Mt, the highest
of all regions.
The three Asia-Pacific countries with the highest e-scrap generation in absolute quantities were
China (5.9 Mt), Japan (2.6 Mt), and India (1.5 Mt). The Asia-Pacific countries with the highest e-
scrap generation per inhabitant were Hong Kong (20.0 kg/inh), Singapore (18.1 kg/inh), and
Brunei Darussalam (17.2 kg/inh). China has emerged as the second largest e-scrap generator in
the world.
In contrast, the per inhabitant generation of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Timor Leste,
Nepal, Yemen, Malawi and Mali is less than 1.0 kg/inh.
On average, Asia-Pacific countries generate 3.6 kg/inh of e-scrap (excluding imports) annually,
but e-scrap generation grows annually by 4.5%. This is the fastest annual growth rate of all
regions and it is estimated that the unit generation will reach 5.0 kg/inh in 2025. This represents
an overwhelming increase of about 40%. Also, taking in account that this is the most populous
region of the world, 23.7 Mt e-scrap will be generated in 2025, about 45% of the world’s total e-
scrap arisings.
Importantly, India has emerged as fifth largest e-scrap generator in the world. This is noteworthy
because, due to its population size and current low unit e-scrap arisings (1.16 kg/inh), the
potential for a significant increase in e-scrap generation is high.
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Figure 5.2. E-scrap generated in Asia-Pacific countries in 2016 and 2025.
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5.4 Eastern Europe
This geographical region includes six Member States (MS) of the European Union and thus data
on e-scrap generation for these countries is quite comprehensive. However, this is not the case
for all the countries in the region.
The total e-scrap generation in 2016 was about 2.8 Mt. In 2025 it is estimated that it will rise to
3.4 Mt, a moderate increase of about 20%. On average, the countries of this region generate 9.7
kg/inh of e-scrap annually and e-scrap generation grows at a rate of about 2% annually, resulting
in an e-scrap generation of 11.9 kg/inh in 2025.
The countries with the highest e-scrap generation in absolute quantities are the Russian
Federation (1.38 Mt), Poland (0.52 Mt) and Romania (0.23 Mt), followed by Ukraine (0.18 Mt).
The three Eastern European countries with the highest e-scrap generation per inhabitant are the
Czech Republic (17.0 Mt), Slovakia (16.1 Mt) and Romania (11.8 kg/inh). At the bottom end there
is the Republic of Moldova with 1.4 kg/inh, Ukraine with 4.0 kg/inh and Belarus with 7.1 kg/inh.
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Figure 5.3. E-scrap generated in Eastern Europe countries in 2016 and 2025
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5.5 USA & Canada
Increased sales of EEE have led to a corresponding increase in obsolete products. USA and
Canada generated 7.9 Mt of e-scrap in 2016. The USA is the highest single generator of e-scrap
in the world, with 7.3 Mt of e-scrap, corresponding to 22.4 kg/inh.
Canada generated 0.6 Mt of e-scrap in 2016, corresponding to 17.1 kg/inh.
The annual growth rate in this region is 1.80%, which, in combination to an already high per
inhabitant generation, implies a mature and fairly saturated market.
5.6 Latin America & Caribbean

The penetration of electronic equipment in many countries in Latin America is approaching the
level of industrialized countries with increasing e-scrap quantities (Silva et al., 2008).
In the Latin America and Caribbean geographical region, in 2016 the total e-scrap generation
was 3.7 Mt. In 2025 this is estimated to reach 4.7 Mt, a substantial increase of almost 30%.
The Latin America and Caribbean countries with the highest e-scrap generation in absolute
quantities are Brazil (1.30 Mt), Mexico (0.98 Mt), and Argentina (0.28 Mt). The three Caribbean
countries with the highest e-scrap generation per inhabitant are Bahamas (17.3 kg/inh), Antigua
and Barbuda (11.4 kg/inh), and Barbados (11.2 kg/inh). In contrast, the three countries with the
lowest unit generation are Honduras (1.65 kg/inh), Nicaragua (1.7 kg/inh), and Guatemala (2.7
kg/inh).
On average, the Latin America and Caribbean countries generate 6.0 kg/inh of e-scrap annually,
but e-scrap arisings grow annually at 2.4% in the region.
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Figure 5.4. E-scrap generated in the Americas in 2016 and 2025
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5.7 Western Europe and Others (except USA and Canada).
This geographical region includes the majority of Member States (MS) of the European Union
(21 of the 28 MS).
The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE Directive) has been transposed
into national laws in all EU Member States. It was designed to make EEE manufacturers
financially or physically responsible for their equipment at the end of its life, under EPR policies.
Additionally, the European Union has implemented several Directives and Regulations that place
the responsibility for "recovery, reuse and recycling" on the manufacturer.
The Waste Statistics Regulation in the EU is the main existing measurement framework for
waste. For e-scrap specifically, there is a reporting obligation and target setting in the WEEE
Directive for all Member States. Thus, data on e-scrap generation is quite comprehensive.
The total e-scrap generation was about 9.0 Mt in 2016. It is estimated that it will rise to 10.3 Mt
in 2025, a moderate increase of 14% in a decade. On average, the countries of this region
generate 20.2 kg/inh of e-scrap annually, but e-scrap generation grows only at a rate of 1.5%
annually, the lowest rate of all geographical regions.
The countries with the highest e-scrap generation in absolute quantities are Germany (1.960 Mt),
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1.369 Mt) and France (1.358 Mt),
followed by Italy (1.130 Mt). The three Western European countries with the highest e-scrap
generation per inhabitant are Norway (28.7 Mt), Iceland (25.2 Mt), and Switzerland (25.0 kg/inh).
At the lower end there is Bosnia and Herzegovina with 4.4 kg/inh, Albania with 4.8 kg/inh and
Serbia with 5.5 kg/inh.
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Figure 5.5. E-scrap generation in Western European countries and Others (excluding USA and Canada) in 2016 and 2025.
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6. TRANSBOUNDARY MOVEMENT OF E-
SCRAP
Of all the aspects of e-scrap their transboundary movement has evoked the most concern and
contradiction. E-scrap exports are complicated with many actors with different intentions
exporting and importing for: direct reuse; repair and refurbishment prior to reuse; spare part
harvesting; or for material recycling, with very different quantities being reported, often based on
very gross estimations and farfetched assumptions.
A number of reports are based on gross estimates of (legally and illegally) exported quantities,
using either flow analysis or extrapolated data from GPS tracking devices in a limited number of
appliances collected for recycling. In some cases, it is reported that up to 80% of the Used and
End-of-Life EEE in developed countries ends up being shipped (legally and illegally) to
developing countries for reuse, recycling or dumping (Lundgren, 2012). The issue and its wide
publicity have given rise to significant concerns that in less developed countries the exported
devices are recycled by an informal sector utilising rudimentary methods, posing adverse
environmental and health implications and adding a disproportionate environmental burden to
those countries.
However, recent studies indicate that the transboundary movement of used EEE from developed
to less developed countries is not the only cause of the discarded EEE problem in the latter
(Salehabadi, 2013; Lundgren, 2012; Lepawsky and McNabb, 2010). Parameters such as the
regional trajectories, illicit trade, and the type of the exported-imported equipment must be
investigated (Salehabadi, 2013). Studies indicate that many e-scrap flows take a regional and
not a strictly “North-South” route (Lepawsky, 2015; Secretariat of the Basel Convention, 2011;
UNODC, 2009).
The biggest challenge when reporting on the transboundary movement of e-scrap is the dearth
of available, coherent and reliable quantified data (see Section 3). It is common knowledge that
the absence of an internationally agreed methodology inevitably leads to incomparable and
inaccurate figures (Baldé et al., 2016). Coherent data provision is restricted by “limited
mechanisms of data collection, undifferentiated trade codes, lack of consistent definitions […],
minimum regulatory oversight, and limited agreement on the definitions of end users” (Duan et
al., 2013). As already stated, international trade data do not differentiate between new and used
EEE, there is no COMTRADE category related to Used and End-of-Life EEE or e-scrap13, and
obviously illegal trade is not reported in trade data.
In this study, the transboundary movement of e-scrap was approached through data evaluation
from the available published sources. Available reports and scientific journals’ papers were
reviewed in order to investigate the quantities and trajectory of e-scrap in space and in time, to
the extent possible.
6.1 Regulatory framework

The most recognised global authority on the Transboundary Movement and the Environmentally
Sound Management of both Used and End-of-Life Electrical and Electronic Equipment and of E-
13A proxy that has been used in the literature is HS 2002 code 854810 (waste and scrap of primary batteries and
electrical accumulators), which, even if it can shine some light on the complexity of transboundary movements of waste
that contain valuable materials, cannot lead to any reliable quantification of e-scrap movements (Lepawsky, 2015;
Lepawsky and McNabb, 2010).
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waste is the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Basel Convention on the Control
of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal. Moreover, well
established Regulations such as the European Union Waste Shipment Regulation and evolving
Regulations in countries such as India and China may serve as models for other countries.
The Basel Convention was adopted in 1989 and entered into force in 1992. At its Eighth meeting
of the Conference of the Parties in 2006 it adopted the Nairobi declaration on the environmentally
sound management of electrical and electronic waste. At its Tenth meeting of the Conference of
the Parties in 2011 it adopted the Cartagena Declaration on the Prevention, Minimization and
Recovery of Hazardous Wastes and Other Wastes. At its Twelfth meeting in 2015, the
Conference of the Parties adopted on an interim basis, the ‘Technical Guidelines on
Transboundary Movements of Electrical and Electronic Waste and Used Electrical and Electronic
Equipment, in particular regarding the Distinction between Waste and Non-Waste under the
Basel Convention’ (Document UNEP/CHW.12/5/Add.1/Rev.1). The Guideline focuses on
clarifying aspects related to transboundary movements of e-waste and used equipment that may
or may not be waste. It recognizes that countries define and evaluate the distinction between
waste and non-waste in different manners when considering used equipment destined, e.g., for
direct reuse or extended use by the original owner for the purpose for which it was conceived, or
for failure analysis, repair and refurbishment. It recognizes that certain countries may consider
used equipment destined for failure analysis, repair or refurbishment to be waste, while others
may not. It considers which e-waste is hazardous waste or “other waste” and therefore would fall
under the provisions of the Convention. Such distinctions will be helpful for enforcement agencies
to assess if the provisions of the Basel Convention on transboundary movements apply, as the
Convention only applies to hazardous wastes and other wastes. The Guidelines also provide:
(a) Information on the relevant provisions of the Basel Convention, applicable to transboundary
movements of e-waste;
(b) Guidance on the distinction between waste and non-waste when used equipment is moved
across borders;
(c) Guidance on the distinction between hazardous waste and non-hazardous waste when
used equipment is moved across borders; and
(d) General guidance on transboundary movements of hazardous e-waste and used
equipment and enforcement of the control provisions of the Basel Convention.
An update of the ‘Technical Guidelines’ is under discussion but has yet to be agreed by the next
Conference of the Parties.
Another regulatory initiative of interest comes from the proposed revision of the Harmonized
Commodity Description and Coding System (“Harmonized System” - HS) for the classification of
goods (including wastes) by the World Customs Organization, which is used by more than 200
countries as a basis for their customs tariffs and for the collection of international trade statistics.
The initiative stems from the Secretariat of the Basel Convention with the aim of having the
wastes covered under the Basel Convention specifically identified in the HS. Dependent on the
HS Review Sub-Committee completing its work on the identification of e-waste by the end of
2018, and barring reservations, new e-waste codes will be included in the HS and enter into force
on 1 January 2022 (UNEP, 2017; see also Appendix 5).
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6.2 The e-scrap trade
According to the literature, approximately 41.8 Mt of discarded EEE were generated in 2014
worldwide, which is expected to increase by 21% (i.e. approximately to 50Mt) in 2018 (Baldé et
al., 2016). Over the last two decades, a significant number of countries have developed take-
back and treatment schemes to facilitate the collection and the processing of discarded EEE in
facilities operating in an Environmentally Sound Manner. In addition, several countries have
restricted exports and imports of used and scrap electronics in an effort to avoid environmentally
harmful informal recycling. However, these policies have not always proved sufficient, due to
difficulties in their enforcement (Terazono and Yoshida, 2012). As well-put by Kahhat and
Williams (2012), the effective assessment of discarded EEE policies is not possible, due to a
number of “missing” data regarding quantities of e-scrap going to the informal recycling sector,
quantities sold on second-hand markets, exports and destinations. Thus, only a limited portion
of the discarded EEE (6.5 Mt of 41.8 Mt) is documented and recycled within the formal sector
(Baldé et al., 2015b).
Estimations based on a variety of methodologies show that the percentage of the discarded
electrical and electronic appliances which end up being exported (mainly from developed to
developing countries) for recycling ranges from 10% to 80%, depending on the type of equipment
and the region (Duan et al., 2013; Kahhat and Williams, 2017; Lundgren, 2012; US ITC, 2013).
However, these figures as well as all the estimations from other sources are often queried, as: 1.
not all waste flows are recorded, 2. the lack of codes to distinguish used EEE and new EEE does
not allow their registration, and 3. the criteria for the characterization of a discarded electrical or
electronic appliance as waste or commodity are not always clear.
Although there is a lack of statistical data regarding the movement of UEEE and EoL-EEE, “there
is an emerging consensus that the purpose of shipments is gradually shifting away from final
disposal, towards recovery and recycling operations”, leading to a growing recycling rate of 18%
per year (Lundgren, 2012).
Analysis of the available data indicates that the flows of e-scrap are defined by multiple, complex,
and profit-oriented drivers. For instance, the West Africa region appears to import equipment with
a reuse value, while China imports mainly concern e-scrap for materials recovery (Salehabadi,
2013).
The most recent study on the transboundary movement of UEEE / e-scrap comes from Nigeria
and comprised two years of comprehensive on site monitoring in the two main ports of the
country, in 2015 and 2016 (Odeyingbo et al., 2017). The 'Person in the Port - PiP' study recorded
data from inspections of containers and roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) vehicles, as well as from the review
of import documents, pointing to around 60,000 t of UEEE imported per year. Of these, the import
of UEEE in RoRo vehicles was found to be the main UEEE import route, assessed to be in the
range of 41,500 t per year. Containers with imported UEEE represented around 0.7% of all
containers with goods imported. Overall, most imported UEEE originated from ports in Germany
(around 20%), followed by the UK (around 19.5%) and Belgium (around 9.4%). The Netherlands
(8.2%), Spain (7.4%), China, and the USA (7.3% each) are next in the ranking of main exporters,
followed by Ireland (6.2%). Overall, these eight countries account for around 85% of UEEE
imports into Nigeria. With an average minimum of around 19% of devices tested being non-
functional, the test results suggest that Nigeria imports at least 15,000 t of non-functional UEEE
annually. The study found almost all importers are Nigerians; more than 80% are located in the
Lagos area.
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6.3 International trade routes of e-scrap
The trade in both Used and End-of-Life Electrical and Electronic Equipment, of E-scrap and of
E-waste has grown not only from the developed to developing countries, but also within
developing countries (Salehabadi, 2013; Lundgren, 2012; Lepwsky and McNabb, 2010).
Transboundary movement also appears dynamic in time, reacting to social, economic and
regulatory changes. In addition, the rapid growth in sales of new electronic goods in many
developing countries will possibly make the domestic arisings of e-scrap greater than the arisings
of e-scrap from imported UEEE and EoL-EEE from developed countries (Yu et al., 2010).
Case study 1: European Union of 28
The most recent effort for mapping the transboundary movement of both Used and End-of-Life
Electrical and Electronic Equipment, of E-scrap and of E-waste from the EU-28 is provided by
the report of Baldé et al. (2016). The report indirectly investigated the EU-28 exports of second-
hand or waste refrigerators, freezers, laptops, desktops, computers, televisions, monitors, flat
panel displays, and mobile phones, by analysing the trade statistics from the EU COMEXT
database.
The analysis of the collected data was based on the price differential between the average prices
of the commodity flows, which provides information only for whole units (no spare parts). It should
be noted that the research does not provide data concerning illegal exports.
According to their results, the amount of exported e-scrap (of the investigated EEE categories)
from the European Union’s 28 Member States doubled from 5 kt in 2008 to 10 kt in 2013. In
general, the exports increased from 2008 to 2010, and slightly decreased in 2013. From 2008 to
2013, on average, 10.8 kt of e-scrap were exported. Within the period 2008-2013, desktop
computers were ranked at the top of the exports list, followed by freezers.
The biggest portion of exports originated from Germany and The United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland. Estonia and Latvia also made significant exports. The largest (by total
weight) destination for EU-28 exports was Northern and Western Africa. European countries
which have not joined the EU were also significant receivers of the recorded exports. The
trajectories of the recorded e-scrap are illustrated in Figure 6.1.
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Figure 6.1. The trajectories of the e-scrap from the EU-28.
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Case study 2: United States of America
One of the most credible recent reports regarding domestic and transboundary flows of used
electronic products in 2010 in the USA was developed by Duan et al. (2013), under the umbrella
of StEP and the financial support of the US Environmental Protection Agency. In order to
calculate the quantities of generated, collected and exported used products (whole units), a
hybrid approach of several methods was used (e.g. sales obsolescence method, modelled
collection rates, trade data approach for export quantities).
The analysis of their results indicates that approximately 171.4 million used electronic products
were generated in 2010, of which 14.4 million were exported (8.5%). Bulky electronics, such as
TVs and monitors, were more likely to be exported overland or by sea, to countries such as
Mexico, Venezuela, Paraguay, and China. Destinations in Asia, such as Hong Kong and United
Arab Emirates, were more likely to serve as transit points. It is worth noting that the Africa region
imports only a small portion of total used electronic products from the USA. These findings are
in agreement with the above-mentioned PiP study (Odeyingbo et al., 2017).
The trajectories of the recorded e-scrap are illustrated in Figure 6.2. It must be noted that the e-
scrap recorded in the trajectories include only CRT TVs and related items, flat panel TVs, mobile
phones, computers and CRT monitors.
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Figure 6.2. The trajectories of the e-scrap from the USA.
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7. CONCLUSIONS
The total quantities of e-scrap arisings are on an upward trend across the globe with a very strong
indication that this trend will continue unabated for some time due to the emergence of innovative
technologies and more affordable electronics.
The annual growth rate between 2016 and 2025 was estimated as 3.03%. E-scrap quantities for
the six geographical regions for 2016, 2020 and 2025 are illustrated in Figure 7.1.
Figure 7.1. Global e-scrap quantities 2016 – 2025 (kt).

Reported total quantities of e-scrap seem to be grossly underestimated and limited to certain
regions and countries. There is a need for standardised methods and techniques to facilitate
realistic measurement of the amounts of e-waste generated in different countries. In this respect,
the work of the United Nations University (UNU) is helpful. Also, the pace of initiating and enacting
legislation to deal with e-waste is advancing very slowly across the globe and still no laws exist
in some countries.
This is the main reason for the paucity of available data and the differences in the types of e-
waste included in any estimates. There is a need for reliable, comparable, and in some cases,
up to date data on e-waste as the results of the desktop study have clearly indicated. Just 40%
of the e-scrap quantity generated in the years between 2003 and 2014 has been reported and
then only by a handful of countries, apart from the Member-States of the European Union. It is
apparent that there is need for empirical enquiries especially with respect to reliable and current
data on the amounts of e-scrap generated, stockpiled and captured for reuse or recycling for
large parts of the world.
The trade in e-scrap has grown not only from the developed to developing countries but also
within developing countries. China implemented extensive regulations during the period 2001-
2008, including a prohibition on the importation of e-scrap, resulting in decreased amounts of e-
48 | P a g e
scrap imports. In addition, the rapid growth in purchasing of electronics goods in developing
countries is expected to favour the domestic supply of e-scrap over imports from developing
countries.
The United States of America and Canada together with the Western European countries had on
average the highest per inhabitant generation of e-scrap, 21.9 and 20.2 kg/inh, respectively in
2016. However, the Asia and Pacific countries, with low to moderate per inhabitant generation
(3.6 kg/inh), were the highest e-scrap generators (Figure 7.1) in terms of absolute quantity (almost
40% of the world’s e-scrap generation).
The e-scrap generation per inhabitant (kg/inh) for 2016, 2020 and 2025 is illustrated in Figure
7.2.
Figure 7.2. E-scrap generation per inhabitant 2016 – 2025 (kg/inh).

It appears, with the exception of the Eastern European countries, that the EEE market in the
developed countries is, in all probability, saturated. Moreover, taking in account the population
size and current low generation per inhabitant in the Asia-Pacific countries, one can conclude
that the future increase of e-scrap would mainly be derived from these nations and to a lesser
extent from Africa.
The total e-scrap generated per inhabitant of all the countries of the world is illustrated in Figure
7.3 and Figure 7.4 for 2016 and 2025, respectively.
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Figure 7.3. Worldwide total e-scrap generated (kg/inh) in 2016.
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Figure 7.4. Worldwide total e-scrap generated (kg/inh) in 2025.
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14
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not specifically exploited for the material presented herein.
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9. APPENDICES
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Appendix 1: Classification of electrical and electronic equipment and e-scrap (UNU-KEYs)
Electrical and electronic products differ considerably one from another. In order, amongst other things, to gather data and analyse
trade flows it is helpful to group together electrical and electronic products by their original function, weight, size, material
composition and environmental relevancy. The same groupings are applicable when those products are reusable,
repairable/refurbishable and at their end-of-life. The 'Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development' devised the UNU-KEYS that
categorise electrical and electronic equipment into some 54 like products by grouping together one or more codes from the
internationally standardized Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (HS). The HS customs codes or tariff
nomenclature is used globally to classify all traded products, including electronics. The detailed correspondence table between the
UNU-KEYS and HS is published in the statistical guidelines from 'The Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development' (Baldé et al.,
2015a) and available on-line at : https://exp.unu.edu/media/project/174/UNU-KEYS-to-HS-Codes.xls
Table 9.1. Classification of electrical and electronic equipment and e-scrap (UNU-KEYs)
UNU-
UNU Key Description HS HS Description
KEY
0101 Professional Heating & Ventilation (excl. cooling equipment) 845110 Dry-cleaning machines
0101 Professional Heating & Ventilation (excl. cooling equipment) 845130 Ironing machines and presses including fusing presses
0102 Dishwashers 842211 Dish washing machines (domestic)
0103 Kitchen (f.i. large furnaces, ovens, cooking equipment) 851660 Electric cooking, grilling & roasting equipment nes
0104 Washing Machines (incl. combined dryers) 845011 Automatic washing machines, of a dry capacity < 10 kg
0104 Washing Machines (incl. combined dryers) 845012 Washing machines nes, capacity <10 kg, built-in drier
0104 Washing Machines (incl. combined dryers) 845019 Household/laundry-type washing machines <10 kg, nes
0104 Washing Machines (incl. combined dryers) 845020 Household or laundry-type washing machines, cap >10kg
0105 Dryers (wash dryers, centrifuges) 842112 Clothes-dryers, centrifugal
0105 Dryers (wash dryers, centrifuges) 845121 Drying machines, capacity <10 kg, except washer-drier
0105 Dryers (wash dryers, centrifuges) 845129 Drying machines, nes
0106 Household Heating & Ventilation (f.i. hoods, ventilators, space heaters) 841460 Ventilating hoods having a maximum width < 120 cm
0106 Household Heating & Ventilation (f.i. hoods, ventilators, space heaters) 851621 Electric storage heating radiators
0106 Household Heating & Ventilation (f.i. hoods, ventilators, space heaters) 851629 Electric space heating nes and soil heating apparatus
0108 Fridges (incl. combi-fridges) 841821 Refrigerators, household compression type
0108 Fridges (incl. combi-fridges) 841822 Refrigerators, household absorption type, electric
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UNU-
KEY
0108 Fridges (incl. combi-fridges) 841829 Refrigerators, household type, including non-electric
0109 Freezers 841830 Freezers of the chest type, < 800 litre capacity
0109 Freezers 841840 Freezers of the upright type, < 900 litre capacity
0111 Air Conditioners (household installed and portable) 841510 Air conditioners window/wall types, self-contained
0111 Air Conditioners (household installed and portable) 841581 Air conditioners nes with reverse cycle refrigeration
0111 Air Conditioners (household installed and portable) 841582 Air conditioners nes, with refrigerating unit
0112 Other Cooling (f.i. dehumidifiers, heat pump dryers) 841861 Compression refrigeration equipment with heat exchange
0113 Professional Cooling (f.i. large air conditioners, cooling displays) 841583 Air conditioners nes, without refrigerating unit
0113 Professional Cooling (f.i. large air conditioners, cooling displays) 841850 Refrigerator/freezer chests/cabinets/showcases
0113 Professional Cooling (f.i. large air conditioners, cooling displays) 841869 Refrigerating or freezing equipment nes
0114 Microwaves (incl. combined, excl. grills) 851650 Microwave ovens
0201 Other Small Household (f.i. small ventilators, irons, clocks, adapters) 630110 Electric blankets of textile material
0201 Other Small Household (f.i. small ventilators, irons, clocks, adapters) 841451 Table, window, ceiling fans, electric motor <125 watts
0201 Other Small Household (f.i. small ventilators, irons, clocks, adapters) 842310 Personal weighing machines, baby & household scales
0201 Other Small Household (f.i. small ventilators, irons, clocks, adapters) 845210 Household type sewing machines
0201 Other Small Household (f.i. small ventilators, irons, clocks, adapters) 850930 Domestic kitchen waste disposers
0201 Other Small Household (f.i. small ventilators, irons, clocks, adapters) 850980 Domestic appliances, with electric motor, nes
0201 Other Small Household (f.i. small ventilators, irons, clocks, adapters) 851640 Electric smoothing irons
0201 Other Small Household (f.i. small ventilators, irons, clocks, adapters) 910111 Wrist-watch, precious metal, battery, with hands
0201 Other Small Household (f.i. small ventilators, irons, clocks, adapters) 910112 Wrist-watch, precious metal, battery, opto/electric
0201 Other Small Household (f.i. small ventilators, irons, clocks, adapters) 910119 Wrist-watch, precious metal, battery, other
0201 Other Small Household (f.i. small ventilators, irons, clocks, adapters) 910191 Pocket-watch, precious-metal case, battery
0201 Other Small Household (f.i. small ventilators, irons, clocks, adapters) 910211 Wrist-watch, base-metal case, battery, with hands
0201 Other Small Household (f.i. small ventilators, irons, clocks, adapters) 910212 Wrist-watch, base-metal case, battery, opto/electric
0201 Other Small Household (f.i. small ventilators, irons, clocks, adapters) 910219 Wrist-watch, base-metal case, battery, other
0201 Other Small Household (f.i. small ventilators, irons, clocks, adapters) 910291 Pocket-watch, base-metal case, battery
0201 Other Small Household (f.i. small ventilators, irons, clocks, adapters) 910310 Clocks with watch movements, battery (except vehicle)
0201 Other Small Household (f.i. small ventilators, irons, clocks, adapters) 910390 Clocks with watch movements, nes (except vehicle)
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UNU-
KEY
0201 Other Small Household (f.i. small ventilators, irons, clocks, adapters) 910511 Alarm clocks, battery or mains powered
0201 Other Small Household (f.i. small ventilators, irons, clocks, adapters) 910521 Wall clocks, battery or mains powered
0201 Other Small Household (f.i. small ventilators, irons, clocks, adapters) 910591 Clocks, nes, battery or mains powered
0201 Other Small Household (f.i. small ventilators, irons, clocks, adapters) 910700 Time switches
0201 Other Small Household (f.i. small ventilators, irons, clocks, adapters) 910811 Assembled battery watch movement, mechanical display
0201 Other Small Household (f.i. small ventilators, irons, clocks, adapters) 910812 Assembled battery watch movement, opto-electric display
0201 Other Small Household (f.i. small ventilators, irons, clocks, adapters) 910819 Assembled battery watch movement, nes
0201 Other Small Household (f.i. small ventilators, irons, clocks, adapters) 910820 Watch movements, complete and assembled, auto-winding
Watch movements, complete & assembled (excl. electrically
0201 Other Small Household (f.i. small ventilators, irons, clocks, adapters) 910890
operated), other ...
0201 Other Small Household (f.i. small ventilators, irons, clocks, adapters) 910911 Clock movements, complete and assembled, battery/alarm
0201 Other Small Household (f.i. small ventilators, irons, clocks, adapters) 910919 Clock movements, complete and assembled, battery nes
0202 Food (f.i. toaster, grills, food processing, frying pans) 850940 Domestic food grinders, mixers, juice extractors
0202 Food (f.i. toaster, grills, food processing, frying pans) 851672 Electric toasters, domestic
0202 Food (f.i. toaster, grills, food processing, frying pans) 851679 Electro-thermic appliances, domestic, nes
0203 Hot Water (f.i. coffee, tea, water cookers) 851610 Electric instant, storage and immersion water heaters
0203 Hot Water (f.i. coffee, tea, water cookers) 851671 Electric coffee or tea makers, domestic
Vacuum cleaners, with self-contained electric motor, Of a power
0204 Vacuum Cleaners (excl. professional) 850811 not > 1,500 W & having a dust bag/other receptacle capacity not
> 20 l
Vacuum cleaners, with self-contained electric motor, other than
0204 Vacuum Cleaners (excl. professional) 850819
of 8508.11
0204 Vacuum Cleaners (excl. professional) 850860 Other vacuum cleaners, not with self-contained electric motor
0204 Vacuum Cleaners (excl. professional) 850910 Domestic vacuum cleaners
0205 Personal Care (f.i. tooth brushes, hair dryers, razors) 851010 Shavers, with self-contained electric motor
0205 Personal Care (f.i. tooth brushes, hair dryers, razors) 851020 Hair clippers, with self-contained electric motor
0205 Personal Care (f.i. tooth brushes, hair dryers, razors) 851030 Hair-removing appl w/sel
0205 Personal Care (f.i. tooth brushes, hair dryers, razors) 851631 Electric hair dryers
0205 Personal Care (f.i. tooth brushes, hair dryers, razors) 851632 Electro-thermic hairdressing apparatus, nes
0205 Personal Care (f.i. tooth brushes, hair dryers, razors) 851633 Electro-thermic hand drying apparatus
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UNU-
KEY
Typewriters other than printers of heading 84.43; word-
0301 Small IT (f.i. routers, mice, keyboards, external drives & accessories) 846900
processing machines.
0301 Small IT (f.i. routers, mice, keyboards, external drives & accessories) 846911 Word-processing machines
0301 Small IT (f.i. routers, mice, keyboards, external drives & accessories) 846912 Automatic typewriters
0301 Small IT (f.i. routers, mice, keyboards, external drives & accessories) 846920 Typewriters, electric, nes
0301 Small IT (f.i. routers, mice, keyboards, external drives & accessories) 846930 Typewriters, non-electric
0301 Small IT (f.i. routers, mice, keyboards, external drives & accessories) 847010 Electronic calculators operable with internal power
0301 Small IT (f.i. routers, mice, keyboards, external drives & accessories) 847021 Electronic calculators, printing, external power
0301 Small IT (f.i. routers, mice, keyboards, external drives & accessories) 847029 Electronic calculators, non-printing, external power
0301 Small IT (f.i. routers, mice, keyboards, external drives & accessories) 847110 Analogue or hybrid computers
0301 Small IT (f.i. routers, mice, keyboards, external drives & accessories) 847170 Storage units
0301 Small IT (f.i. routers, mice, keyboards, external drives & accessories) 847180 Units of auto data processing
0301 Small IT (f.i. routers, mice, keyboards, external drives & accessories) 847190 Automatic data processing
0301 Small IT (f.i. routers, mice, keyboards, external drives & accessories) 854389 Electrical machines and
0302 Desktop PCs (excl. monitors, accessories) 847141 Dig auto data proc w/cpu
0302 Desktop PCs (excl. monitors, accessories) 847149 Dig auto data proc units
0302 Desktop PCs (excl. monitors, accessories) 847150 Digital process units wh
0303 Laptops (incl. tablets) 847130 Portable digital data pr
Machines which perform two/more of the functions of printing,
0304 Printers (f.i. scanners, multifunctionals, faxes) 844331 copying/facsimile transmission, capable of connecting to an
automatic data processing machine/to a network
Other printers, copying machines & facsimile machines,
whether/not combined, excluding the ones which perform
0304 Printers (f.i. scanners, multifunctionals, faxes) 844332 two/more of the functions of printing, copying/facsimile
transmission; capable of connecting to an automatic data
processing machine/to a network
0304 Printers (f.i. scanners, multifunctionals, faxes) 851721 Facsimile machines
0304 Printers (f.i. scanners, multifunctionals, faxes) 851722 Teleprinters
0305 Telecom (f.i. (cordless) phones, answering machines) 851711 Line telephone sets, cord
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UNU-
KEY
Other telephone sets, incl. telephones for cellular networks/for
0305 Telecom (f.i. (cordless) phones, answering machines) 851718
other wireless networks, other than 8517.11 & 8517.12
0305 Telecom (f.i. (cordless) phones, answering machines) 851719 Telephone sets, nes
0305 Telecom (f.i. (cordless) phones, answering machines) 851730 Telephonic or telegraphic switching apparatus
0305 Telecom (f.i. (cordless) phones, answering machines) 851750 Apparatus for carrier-cu
Other apparatus for transmission/reception of voice,
images/other data, incl. apparatus for communication in a
0305 Telecom (f.i. (cordless) phones, answering machines) 851769
wired/wireless network (such as a local/wide area network),
other than 8517.61 & 8517.62
0305 Telecom (f.i. (cordless) phones, answering machines) 851780 Elect apparatus for line
0305 Telecom (f.i. (cordless) phones, answering machines) 852020 Telephone answering machines
0305 Telecom (f.i. (cordless) phones, answering machines) 852790 Radio reception apparatus nes
0305 Telecom (f.i. (cordless) phones, answering machines) 903040 Gain/distortion and crosstalk meters, etc
Telephones for cellular networks/for other wireless networks,
0306 Mobile Phones (incl. smartphones, pagers) 851712
other than Line telephone sets with cordless handsets
Base stations for transmission/reception of voice, images/other

0306 Mobile Phones (incl. smartphones, pagers) 851761 data, incl. apparatus for communication in a wired/wireless
network (such as a local/wide area network)
0306 Mobile Phones (incl. smartphones, pagers) 851950 Telephone answering machines
0306 Mobile Phones (incl. smartphones, pagers) 852520 Transmit-receive apparatus for radio, TV, etc.
0307 Professional IT (f.i. servers, routers, data storage, copiers) 844312 Sheet fed, office offset printers, sheet < 22x36 cm
Other printers, copying machines & facsimile machines,
0307 Professional IT (f.i. servers, routers, data storage, copiers) 844339
whether/not combined, excl. 8443.31 & 8443.32
0307 Professional IT (f.i. servers, routers, data storage, copiers) 847040 Accounting machines
0307 Professional IT (f.i. servers, routers, data storage, copiers) 847050 Cash registers
0307 Professional IT (f.i. servers, routers, data storage, copiers) 847090 Postage franking, ticket-issuing machines, etc.
0307 Professional IT (f.i. servers, routers, data storage, copiers) 900911 Electrostatic photo-copiers, direct process
0307 Professional IT (f.i. servers, routers, data storage, copiers) 900912 Electrostatic photo-copiers, indirect process
0307 Professional IT (f.i. servers, routers, data storage, copiers) 900921 Photo-copying equipment with an optical system, nes
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UNU-
KEY
0307 Professional IT (f.i. servers, routers, data storage, copiers) 900922 Contact type photo-copying apparatus, nes
0307 Professional IT (f.i. servers, routers, data storage, copiers) 900930 Thermo-copying apparatus
0308 Cathode Ray Tube Monitors 852821 Colour video monitors
0308 Cathode Ray Tube Monitors 852822 B & w video monitors
Cathode-ray tube monitors, of a kind solely/principally used in an
0308 Cathode Ray Tube Monitors 852841
automatic data processing system of heading 84.71
Other cathode-ray tube monitors, not of a kind solely/principally
0308 Cathode Ray Tube Monitors 852849
used in an automatic data processing system of heading 84.71
Other monitors, of a kind solely/principally used in an automatic
0309 Flat Display Panel Monitors (LCD, LED) 852851
data processing system of heading 84.71
Other monitors, not of a kind solely/principally used in an
0309 Flat Display Panel Monitors (LCD, LED) 852859
automatic data processing system of heading 84.71
0309 Flat Display Panel Monitors (LCD, LED) 853120 Indicator panels incorporating electronic displays
0401 Small Consumer Electronics (f.i. headphones, remote controls) 851810 Microphones and stands thereof
0401 Small Consumer Electronics (f.i. headphones, remote controls) 851830 Headphones, earphones, combinations
0402 Portable Audio & Video (f.i. MP3, e-readers, car navigation) 852712 Pocket-size radio-cassette
0402 Portable Audio & Video (f.i. MP3, e-readers, car navigation) 852713 Radio apparatus w/sound
0402 Portable Audio & Video (f.i. MP3, e-readers, car navigation) 852719 Radio receivers, portable, non-recording
0402 Portable Audio & Video (f.i. MP3, e-readers, car navigation) 852731 Radio-telephony receiver, with sound reproduce/record
0402 Portable Audio & Video (f.i. MP3, e-readers, car navigation) 852732 Radio-telephony etc. receivers, nes
0402 Portable Audio & Video (f.i. MP3, e-readers, car navigation) 852739 Radio-broadcast receivers nes
Other reception apparatus for radio-broadcasting, combined with
0402 Portable Audio & Video (f.i. MP3, e-readers, car navigation) 852791
sound recording/reproducing apparatus.
Other reception apparatus for radio-broadcasting, not combined
0402 Portable Audio & Video (f.i. MP3, e-readers, car navigation) 852792 with sound recording/reproducing apparatus but combined with a
clock.
Other reception apparatus for radio-broadcasting, excl. 8527.91
0402 Portable Audio & Video (f.i. MP3, e-readers, car navigation) 852799
& 8527.92
0403 Music Instruments, Radio, HiFi (incl. audio sets) 847210 Office duplicating machines
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UNU-
KEY
0403 Music Instruments, Radio, HiFi (incl. audio sets) 847230 Machinery for processing mail of all kinds
0403 Music Instruments, Radio, HiFi (incl. audio sets) 847290 Office machines, nes
Machines for the reception, conversion &
0403 Music Instruments, Radio, HiFi (incl. audio sets) 851762 transmission/regeneration of voice, images/other data, incl.
switching & routing apparatus
0403 Music Instruments, Radio, HiFi (incl. audio sets) 851840 Audio-frequency electric amplifiers
0403 Music Instruments, Radio, HiFi (incl. audio sets) 851850 Electric sound amplifier sets
0403 Music Instruments, Radio, HiFi (incl. audio sets) 851910 Coin or disc-operated record-players
Apparatus operated by coins, banknotes, bank cards, tokens/by
0403 Music Instruments, Radio, HiFi (incl. audio sets) 851920
other means of payment
0403 Music Instruments, Radio, HiFi (incl. audio sets) 851921 Record-players without built-in loudspeaker, nes
0403 Music Instruments, Radio, HiFi (incl. audio sets) 851929 Record-players with loudspeakers, nes
0403 Music Instruments, Radio, HiFi (incl. audio sets) 851930 Turntables (record-decks)
0403 Music Instruments, Radio, HiFi (incl. audio sets) 851931 Turntables with automatic record changing mechanism
0403 Music Instruments, Radio, HiFi (incl. audio sets) 851939 Turntables, without record changers
0403 Music Instruments, Radio, HiFi (incl. audio sets) 851940 Transcribing machines
Other sound recording/reproducing apparatus, using magnetic,
0403 Music Instruments, Radio, HiFi (incl. audio sets) 851981 optical/semiconductor media, other than 8519.20, 8519.30,
8519.50
Other sound recording/reproducing apparatus, other n.e.s. in Ch.
0403 Music Instruments, Radio, HiFi (incl. audio sets) 851989
85.19
0403 Music Instruments, Radio, HiFi (incl. audio sets) 851992 Pocket-size cassette-player
0403 Music Instruments, Radio, HiFi (incl. audio sets) 851993 Sound repr app, cassette
0403 Music Instruments, Radio, HiFi (incl. audio sets) 851999 Sound reproducing apparatus, non-recording, nes
0403 Music Instruments, Radio, HiFi (incl. audio sets) 852010 Dictating machine requiring external power source
0403 Music Instruments, Radio, HiFi (incl. audio sets) 852032 Magnetic tape rec digital
0403 Music Instruments, Radio, HiFi (incl. audio sets) 852033 Magnetic tape rec cassette
0403 Music Instruments, Radio, HiFi (incl. audio sets) 852039 Non-cassette audio tape recorders, sound reproducing
0403 Music Instruments, Radio, HiFi (incl. audio sets) 852090 Audio recording equipment without sound reproduction
0403 Music Instruments, Radio, HiFi (incl. audio sets) 852721 Radio receivers, external power, sound reproduce/record
65 | P a g e
UNU-
KEY
0403 Music Instruments, Radio, HiFi (incl. audio sets) 852729 Radio receivers, external power, not sound reproducer
0404 Video (f.i. Video recorders, DVD, Blue Ray, set-top boxes) 852110 Video recording/reproducing apparatus, magnetic tape
0404 Video (f.i. Video recorders, DVD, Blue Ray, set-top boxes) 852190 Video record/reproduction apparatus not magnetic tape
0404 Video (f.i. Video recorders, DVD, Blue Ray, set-top boxes) 852530 Television cameras
Transmission apparatus for radio-broadcasting/television
0404 Video (f.i. Video recorders, DVD, Blue Ray, set-top boxes) 852560
incorporating reception apparatus
0404 Video (f.i. Video recorders, DVD, Blue Ray, set-top boxes) 852830 Video projectors
Projectors, of a kind solely/principally used in an automatic data
processing system of heading 84.71
Projectors, not of a kind solely/principally used in an automatic
data processing system of heading 84.71
Reception apparatus for television, not designed to incorporate a
video display/screen
0404 Video (f.i. Video recorders, DVD, Blue Ray, set-top boxes) 900661 Photographic discharge lamp flashlight apparatus
0404 Video (f.i. Video recorders, DVD, Blue Ray, set-top boxes) 900669 Photographic flashlight apparatus, nes
0404 Video (f.i. Video recorders, DVD, Blue Ray, set-top boxes) 900711 Cinematographic cameras for film <16mm wide
0404 Video (f.i. Video recorders, DVD, Blue Ray, set-top boxes) 900719 Cinematographic cameras for film >16mm wide
0404 Video (f.i. Video recorders, DVD, Blue Ray, set-top boxes) 900720 Cinematographic projector
0404 Video (f.i. Video recorders, DVD, Blue Ray, set-top boxes) 900810 Slide projectors
0404 Video (f.i. Video recorders, DVD, Blue Ray, set-top boxes) 900830 Image projectors, except slide/microform
0404 Video (f.i. Video recorders, DVD, Blue Ray, set-top boxes) 900840 Photographic enlargers and reducers, other than cine
0404 Video (f.i. Video recorders, DVD, Blue Ray, set-top boxes) 901010 Equipment for automatic development of photo film
0404 Video (f.i. Video recorders, DVD, Blue Ray, set-top boxes) 901050 App & equip for ph labor
0404 Video (f.i. Video recorders, DVD, Blue Ray, set-top boxes) 901060 Projection screens
0404 Video (f.i. Video recorders, DVD, Blue Ray, set-top boxes) 903130 Profile projectors, nes
0404 Video (f.i. Video recorders, DVD, Blue Ray, set-top boxes) 903149 Optical instruments and
0405 Speakers 851821 Single loudspeakers, mounted in enclosure
0405 Speakers 851822 Multiple loudspeakers, mounted in single enclosure
66 | P a g e
UNU-
KEY
0406 Cameras (f.i. camcorders, foto & digital still cameras) 852540 Still image video camera
0406 Cameras (f.i. camcorders, foto & digital still cameras) 852580 Television cameras, digital cameras & video camera recorders
0407 Cathode Ray Tube TVs 852812 Colour television receive
0407 Cathode Ray Tube TVs 852813 B & W television receive
Other reception apparatus for television, whether/not
incorporating radio-broadcast receivers/sound/video
0407 Cathode Ray Tube TVs 852873
recording/reproducing apparatus, black & white/other
monochrome.
Other colour reception apparatus for television, whether/not
0408 Flat Display Panel TVs (LCD, LED, Plasma) 852872 incorporating radio-broadcast receivers/sound/video
recording/reproducing apparatus,
0501 Lamps (f.i. pocket, Christmas, excl. LED & incandescent) 851310 Portable battery and magneto-electric lamps
0503 Straight Tube Fluorescent Lamps 853941 Arc-lamps
0503 Straight Tube Fluorescent Lamps 853949 Ultra-violet or infra-red
0504 Special Lamps (f.i. professional mercury, high & low pressure sodium) 853931 Fluorescent lamps, hot cathode
0504 Special Lamps (f.i. professional mercury, high & low pressure sodium) 853932 Mercury or sodium vapour
0504 Special Lamps (f.i. professional mercury, high & low pressure sodium) 853939 Discharge lamps, other than ultra-violet lamps, nes
0506 Household Luminaires (incl. household incandescent fittings) 851210 Lighting/signalling equipment as used on bicycles
0506 Household Luminaires (incl. household incandescent fittings) 940510 Chandeliers, other electric ceiling or wall lights
0506 Household Luminaires (incl. household incandescent fittings) 940520 Electric table, desk, bedside and floor lamps
0506 Household Luminaires (incl. household incandescent fittings) 940530 Lighting sets of a kind used for Christmas trees
0507 Professional Luminaires (offices, public space, industry) 940540 Electric lamps, lighting fittings, nes
Drills of all kinds, for working in the hand, with self-contained
0601 Household Tools (f.i. drills, saws, high pressure cleaners, lawn mowers) 846721
elec. motor ...
0601 Household Tools (f.i. drills, saws, high pressure cleaners, lawn mowers) 846722 Saws for working in the hand, with self-contained elec. motor
Tools for working in the hand, with self-contained elec. motor
0601 Household Tools (f.i. drills, saws, high pressure cleaners, lawn mowers) 846729
(excl. drill ...
0601 Household Tools (f.i. drills, saws, high pressure cleaners, lawn mowers) 850810 Drills, hand-held, with self-contained electric motor
0601 Household Tools (f.i. drills, saws, high pressure cleaners, lawn mowers) 850820 Saws, hand-held, with self-contained electric motor
0601 Household Tools (f.i. drills, saws, high pressure cleaners, lawn mowers) 850880 Tools, hand-held, with electric motor, not drills/saw
0601 Household Tools (f.i. drills, saws, high pressure cleaners, lawn mowers) 850920 Domestic floor polishers
67 | P a g e
UNU-
KEY
0601 Household Tools (f.i. drills, saws, high pressure cleaners, lawn mowers) 851511 Electric soldering irons and guns
0601 Household Tools (f.i. drills, saws, high pressure cleaners, lawn mowers) 851519 Electric brazing, soldering machines and apparatus ne
0601 Household Tools (f.i. drills, saws, high pressure cleaners, lawn mowers) 851521 Electric resistance welding equipment, automatic
0601 Household Tools (f.i. drills, saws, high pressure cleaners, lawn mowers) 851529 Electric resistance welding equipment, non-automatic
0601 Household Tools (f.i. drills, saws, high pressure cleaners, lawn mowers) 851531 Automatic electric plasma, other arc welding equipment
0602 Professional Tools (f.i. for welding, soldering, milling) 843311 Mowers, powered, lawn, with horizontal cutting device
0602 Professional Tools (f.i. for welding, soldering, milling) 843319 Mowers, powered, lawn, nes
Tricycles, scooters, pedal cars & similar wheeled toys; dolls'
0701 Toys (f.i. car racing sets, electric trains, music toys, biking computers) 950300
carriages; dolls; other toys; reduced-size
0701 Toys (f.i. car racing sets, electric trains, music toys, biking computers) 950310 Electric trains, train sets, etc
0701 Toys (f.i. car racing sets, electric trains, music toys, biking computers) 950350 Toy musical instruments, apparatus
0701 Toys (f.i. car racing sets, electric trains, music toys, biking computers) 950490 Articles for funfair, table and parlour games, nes
0702 Game Consoles 950410 Video games used with a television receiver
0703 Leisure (f.i. large exercise, sports equipment) 920710 Keyboard instruments electrical/requiring amplifier
0703 Leisure (f.i. large exercise, sports equipment) 920790 Musical instruments nes, electric/requiring amplifier
0801 Household Medical (f.i. thermometers, blood pressure meters) 902140 Hearing aids, except parts and accessories
0802 Professional Medical (f.i. hospital, dentist, diagnostics) 901811 Electro-cardiographs
0802 Professional Medical (f.i. hospital, dentist, diagnostics) 901812 Ultrasonic scanning appr
0802 Professional Medical (f.i. hospital, dentist, diagnostics) 901813 Magnetic resonance imaging
0802 Professional Medical (f.i. hospital, dentist, diagnostics) 901814 Scintigraphic apparatus
0802 Professional Medical (f.i. hospital, dentist, diagnostics) 901819 Electro-diagnostic apparatus, nes
0802 Professional Medical (f.i. hospital, dentist, diagnostics) 901841 Dental drill engines
0901 Household Monitoring & Control (alarm, heat, smoke, excl. screens) 853110 Burglar or fire alarms and similar apparatus
0901 Household Monitoring & Control (alarm, heat, smoke, excl. screens) 853180 Electric sound or visual signalling apparatus, nes
0901 Household Monitoring & Control (alarm, heat, smoke, excl. screens) 854340 Electric fence energiser
Other machines & apparatus for electrical machines &
apparatus, other than machines & apparatus for
0901 Household Monitoring & Control (alarm, heat, smoke, excl. screens) 854370
electroplating/electrolysis/electrophoresis/signal
generators/particle accelerators.
68 | P a g e
UNU-
KEY
0901 Household Monitoring & Control (alarm, heat, smoke, excl. screens) 901730 Micrometers, callipers and gauges
0901 Household Monitoring & Control (alarm, heat, smoke, excl. screens) 902410 Machines for testing mechanical properties of metals
0901 Household Monitoring & Control (alarm, heat, smoke, excl. screens) 902480 Machines for testing mechanical properties nes
0901 Household Monitoring & Control (alarm, heat, smoke, excl. screens) 902519 Thermometers, except liquid filled
0901 Household Monitoring & Control (alarm, heat, smoke, excl. screens) 902580 Hydrometer, pyrometer, hygrometer, alone or combined
0901 Household Monitoring & Control (alarm, heat, smoke, excl. screens) 902610 Equipment to measure or check liquid flow or level
0901 Household Monitoring & Control (alarm, heat, smoke, excl. screens) 902620 Equipment to measure or check pressure
0901 Household Monitoring & Control (alarm, heat, smoke, excl. screens) 902680 Equipment to measure, check gas/liquid properties nes
0901 Household Monitoring & Control (alarm, heat, smoke, excl. screens) 902710 Gas/smoke analysis apparatus
0901 Household Monitoring & Control (alarm, heat, smoke, excl. screens) 902780 Equipment for physical or chemical analysis, nes
0901 Household Monitoring & Control (alarm, heat, smoke, excl. screens) 903020 Cathode-ray oscilloscopes, oscillographs
Other instruments & apparatus, for measuring/checking voltage,
0901 Household Monitoring & Control (alarm, heat, smoke, excl. screens) 903033 current, resistance/power, without a recording device, other than
9030.31 & 9030.32,
0901 Household Monitoring & Control (alarm, heat, smoke, excl. screens) 903039 Ammeters, voltmeters, ohm meters, etc, non-recording
0901 Household Monitoring & Control (alarm, heat, smoke, excl. screens) 903089 Electrical measurement instruments nes
0901 Household Monitoring & Control (alarm, heat, smoke, excl. screens) 903180 Measuring or checking equipment, nes
0901 Household Monitoring & Control (alarm, heat, smoke, excl. screens) 903210 Thermostats
0902 Professional Monitoring & Control (f.i. laboratory, control panels) 901510 Rangefinders
0902 Professional Monitoring & Control (f.i. laboratory, control panels) 901520 Theodolites and tachometers
0902 Professional Monitoring & Control (f.i. laboratory, control panels) 901530 Surveying levels
0902 Professional Monitoring & Control (f.i. laboratory, control panels) 901540 Photogrammetrical surveying instruments, appliances
0902 Professional Monitoring & Control (f.i. laboratory, control panels) 901580 Surveying, etc instruments nes
1001 Non Cooled Dispensers (f.i. for vending, hot drinks, tickets, money) 847629 Autom bev-vendng mach ne
1001 Non Cooled Dispensers (f.i. for vending, hot drinks, tickets, money) 847689 Automatic vending mach n
1002 Cooled Dispensers (f.i. for vending, cold drinks) 847621 Aut bev-vend m heat/refr
1002 Cooled Dispensers (f.i. for vending, cold drinks) 847681 Autom vendng mach h/refr
69 | P a g e
Appendix 2: Use of the Weibull Distribution to calculate e-scrap
generation
The Weibull distribution is a versatile distribution often used for modelling of survival data. The
absence of complete lifetime data results in the fact that a mathematical distribution function must
be used in order to establish coherent lifetime distributions. The Weibull distribution is widely
used in reliability and life data analyses due to its versatility. Depending upon the values of the
parameters, the Weibull distribution can be used to model a variety of life behaviours. Another
advantage is the simplicity of the function. A strict statistical check on the optimality of the model
choice is difficult with the available data. However, as this project involves uncertainties at many
levels, which will influence the final estimates irrespective of the chosen survival model, the actual
model choice is believed to be less important.
To estimate the Weibull distribution parameters, several methods like maximum likelihood
estimation method, method of moments and least-squares estimation method (LSE) are used. In
this report the LSE method is used because of its simplicity and wide use.
In this study, a method proposed by the Nordic Council of Ministers (2009) was used. The method
requires two types of input, firstly probable lifespan distribution of electrical and electronic
equipment (EEE) and secondly volumes (items) of EEE supplied to the market (both historical
and future).
The data for the survival distributions came from a Delphi evaluation. For each product category
the assessment was for the:
1. Fraction scrapped during the first year
2. Number of years before 25% are scrapped
The data basis for the modelling thus consists of estimates of points on the survival distribution
itself. This contrasts with the more normal situation where observed lifetimes from a population
form the data basis.
In order to calculate the e-scrap quantities between 2017 and 2025, data of international trade
(import-export) were extracted from UN Comtrade database. For the EU and some other
European countries data were extracted directly from Eurostat.
To determinate the lifespan distribution, the specifying lifespan profile using the Delphi method
proposed by the Nordic Council of Ministers (2009) was used. The Delphi method, considered
as a semi-scientific method, is regarded as a simple, resources and time sparing method mainly
in cases where lifespan for many types of EEE need to be determined (Nordic Council of
Ministers, 2009). The Weibull distribution parameters that were not available were adopted from
Baldé et al. (2015).
70 | P a g e
Table 9.2. Weibull parameters of various EEE related to e-scrap generation
Lifespan
distribution Median
UNU
Description (Weibull)15 Lifespan
KEY
(years)
α (shape) β (scale)
1. Large household appliances
Professional Heating & Ventilation (excl.
101 1.8 15.8 14.6
cooling equipment)
102 Dishwashers 1.6 13.1 10.5
Kitchen (f.i. large furnaces, ovens,

103 2.5 18 15.6
cooking equipment)
Washing Machines (incl. combined
104 2.2 13.9 10.3
dryers)
105 Dryers (wash dryers, centrifuges) 2.6 16.5 14.3
Household Heating & Ventilation (f.i.
106 2 13.5 11.2
hoods, ventilators, space heaters)
108 Fridges (incl. combi-fridges) 2.3 16.5 14.0
109 Freezers 2.6 23.2 17.4

Air Conditioners (household installed and
111 2.8 12.3 12.8
portable)
Other Cooling (f.i. dehumidifiers, heat
112 2.4 13.6 11.7
pump dryers)
Professional Cooling (f.i. large air

113 2.5 20.6 17.8
conditioners, cooling displays)
114 Microwaves (incl. combined, excl. grills) 0.8 14.7 9.4
2. Small household appliances

Other Small Household (f.i. small
201 1.7 5.9 10.5
ventilators, irons, clocks, adapters)
Food (f.i. toaster, grills, food processing,
202 1.6 5.9 10.5
frying pans)
203 Hot Water (f.i. coffee, tea, water cookers) 1.8 4.9 8.5
204 Vacuum Cleaners (excl. professional) 1.7 6.9 12.4
Personal Care (f.i. tooth brushes, hair

205 1.8 5.2 9.2
dryers, razors)
3. IT and telecom equipment
Small IT (f.i. routers, mice, keyboards,

301 2.0 4.7 7.8
external drives & accessories)
15
Wang,F., Huisman, J., Stevels, A.L.N., Baldé, C.P. (2013). Improving estimation of e-waste generation with
advanced Input-Output Analysis, Waste Management, 33(11), pp. 2397-2407.
71 | P a g e
Lifespan
distribution Median
UNU
Description (Weibull)15 Lifespan
KEY
(years)
α (shape) β (scale)
Desktop PCs (excl. monitors,

302 2.3 4.7 7.3
accessories)
303 Laptops (incl. tablets) 2.3 4.7 7.3
Printers (f.i. scanners, multi-functional,
304 2.0 4.7 7.8
faxes)
Telecom (f.i. (cordless) phones,
305 1.6 5.9 10.8
answering machines)
Mobile Phones (incl. smartphones,
306 2.1 3.2 5.2
pagers)
Professional IT (f.i. servers, routers, data
307 2.3 4.7 7.3
storage, copiers)
308 Cathode Ray Tube Monitors 2.3 4.7 7.3
309 Flat Display Panel Monitors (LCD, LED) 2.3 4.7 7.3
4. Consumer equipment
Small Consumer Electronics (f.i.
401 1.8 5.9 10.2
headphones, remote controls)
Portable Audio & Video (f.i. MP3, e-
402 2.4 3.5 5.3
readers, car navigation)
Music Instruments, Radio, Hi-Fi (incl.
403 1.7 6.9 12.4
audio sets)
Video (f.i. Video recorders, DVD, Blue
404 2.1 5.5 8.8
Ray, set-top boxes)
405 Speakers 1.7 6.9 12.4
Cameras (f.i. camcorders, photo & digital
406 1.9 5.4 9.1
still cameras)
407 Cathode Ray Tube TVs 1.9 6.7 11.4
Flat Display Panel TVs (LCD, LED,
408 1.9 6.5 10.9
Plasma)
However, the use of existing average lifespan values entails certain possible shortcomings.
1. The average life is to a large extent subjective because in most of the developed
countries electrical and electronic equipment is often replaced and disposed of before
it reaches its technical end-of-life.
2. Lifespans are available for a very limited number of countries and usually developed
(i.e. EU). Their global use inevitably leads to some uncertainty for countries other than
the EU.
3. WEEE/ E-waste/ E-scrap are often stored for years.
4. Assumption that all appliances produced in the same year will be in line for disposal
after exactly the average life.
5. Assumption that the average variance in life of items of EEE does not change very
much, whereas, in reality, lifetimes may become shorter in the future.
72 | P a g e
Therefore, this method (and the numbers) must be approached with caution when it is employed
in the calculation of future e-scrap generation.
The purpose of modelling the scrap data is, for each product category which will be included, to
estimate the amount of scrap per year. This will be accomplished by
a) Estimating the survival distribution (or rather the cumulative distribution function) for
each product category
b) Retrieving sales statistics for each product category
c) Combining survival and sales to yield an estimate for future year scrap volumes
(numbers).
The Weibull probability density function (pdf) is given by the equation:
𝛼 𝛼−1
𝑥 𝑎
−( )
𝑓(𝑥, 𝛼, 𝛽) = 𝛼 ∗ 𝑥 ∗𝑒 𝑏
𝛽
where x is the independent variable, α is the shape parameter, and β is the scale parameter.
x = Lifetime variable (distance covered, operating time, load or stress reversal etc.)
β = Scale parameter, characteristic life during which a total of 63.2% of the units have failed
α = Shape parameter, slope of the fitting line in the Weibull plot
The Weibull cumulative distribution function (cdf) is:
𝑥 𝑎
−( )
𝑓(𝑥, 𝛼, 𝛽) = 1 − 𝑒 𝑏
If x represents “time-to-failure”, the Weibull distribution is characterized by the fact that the failure
rate is proportional to a power of time, namely β – 1. Thus, β can be interpreted as follows:
▪ A value of β < 1 indicates that the failure rate decreases over time. This happens if there
is significant “infant mortality”, or where defective items fail early with a failure rate
decreasing over time as the defective items are weeded out of the population.
▪ A value of β = 1 indicates that the failure rate is constant over time. This might suggest
random external events are causing mortality or failure.
▪ A value of β > 1 indicates that the failure rate increases with time. This happens if there is
an “aging” process; e.g. if parts are more likely to wear out and/or fail as time goes on.
1/α can be viewed as the failure rate. The mean of the Weibull distribution is the mean time to
1
failure (MTTF) or mean time between failures (MTBF) = 𝛼 × Γ × (1 + 𝛽)
Key statistical properties of the Weibull distribution are:

1
▪ Median = 𝛼 × (𝑙𝑛2)𝛽
1
𝛽−1 𝛽
▪ Mode (when β > 1) = 𝛼 × ( 𝛽
)
2
▪ Variance = 𝛼 2 × Γ × (1 + ) − 𝜇2
𝛽
whereas  is the location parameter. Frequently, the location parameter is not used, and the
value for this parameter can be set to zero. When this is the case, the pdf equation reduces to
that of the two-parameter Weibull distribution.
73 | P a g e
Appendix 3: Classification of e-scrap generated per country in
2016
Table 9.3. Classification of domestic e-scrap generated per country in 2016
Geographical Population
Country Quantity (kt) kg/inh
Region (×1000)
Algeria 178.5 4.4 40,376
Angola 70.3 2.72 25,831
Benin 9.3 0.83 11,167
Botswana 16.2 7.0 2,304
Burkina Faso 11.7 0.63 18,634
Burundi 3.2 0.28 11,553
Cabo Verde 1.02 1.9 527
Cameroon 19.4 0.81 23,924
Central African Republic 1.2 0.24 4,998
Chad 9.95 0.69 14,497
Comoros 0.48 0.59 807
Congo Rep. 10.5 2.22 4,740.9
Côte d'Ivoire 20.9 0.9 23,254.2
Democratic Republic of
15.4 0.19 79,722.6
the Congo
Djibouti 1.0 1.14 899.6
Egypt 403.9 4.33 93,383.6
Equatorial Guinea 8.0 9.15 869.6
Africa
Eritrea 1.0 0.18 5,351.7

Ethiopia 36.6 0.36 101,853.3
Gabon 11.4 6.46 1,763.1
Gambia 1.7 0.83 2,054.9
Ghana 32.0 1.14 28,033.4
Guinea 8.3 0.64 12,947.1
Guinea-Bissau 0.9 0.47 1,888.4
Kenya 38.8 0.82 47,251.5
Lesotho 1.7 0.81 2160.3
Liberia 0.8 0.18 4,615.2
Madagascar 6.1 0.25 24,915.8
Malawi 3.4 0.19 17,749.8
Mali 3.3 0.18 18,134.8
Mauritania 3.1 0.75 4,166.4
Mauritius 10.9 8.56 1,277.6
Morocco 133.4 3.83 34,817.1
Mozambique 17.1 0.6 28,751.4
Namibia 10.8 4.3 2,513.9
Niger 4.0 0.19 20,715.3
74 | P a g e
Region (×1000)
Nigeria 214.6 1.15 186,987.3
Rwanda 6.7 0.56 11,882.8
Senegal 13.4 0.86 15,589.5
Seychelles 0.9 9.49 97.02
Sierra Leone 2.2 0.33 6,592.1
South Africa 298.0 5.42 54,978.9
South Sudan 8.1 0.64 12,733.4
Sudan 42.4 1.03 41,175.5
Swaziland 4.5 3.44 1,304.06
Togo 4.6 0.62 7,496.8
Tunisia 56.5 4.97 11,375.2
Uganda 25.0 0.62 40,322.8
United Republic of
25.9 0.47 55,155.5
Tanzania
Zambia 11.0 0.66 16,717.3
Zimbabwe 4.3 0.27 15,966.8
Kazakhstan 119.8 6.71 17,855.4

Kyrgyzstan 6.5 1.07 6,035,0
Tajikistan 6.8 0.78 8,669.5
Turkmenistan 20.6 3.79 5,438.67
Uzbekistan 41.9 1.38 30,300.5
China 5,906 4.27 1,382,323.0
China, Hong Kong SAR 146.7 19.98 7,346.2
Japan 2,561.6 20.28 126,323.7
Mongolia 4.2 1.39 3,006.4
Republic of Korea 703 13.92 50,503.9
Asia-Pacific
Brunei Darussalam 7.4 17.23 428.874

Cambodia 18 1.136 15,827.2
Indonesia 724.9 2.78 260,581.1
Lao People's Democratic
7.5 1.08 6,918.4
Republic
Malaysia 207.6 6.75 30,751.6
Myanmar 20.6 0.38 54,363.4
Philippines 113 1.10 102,250.1
Singapore 103.2 18.12 5,696.5
Thailand 385 5.65 68,146.6
Timor-Leste 0.9 0.77 1,211.2
Viet Nam 101.1 1.07 94,444.2
Afghanistan 5.2 0.15 33,369.9
Bangladesh 117.8 0.72 162,910.9
75 | P a g e
Region (×1000)
Bhutan 2.6 3.29 784.103
India 1,539.1 1.16 1,326,801
Iran (Islamic Republic of) 567.1 7.08 80,043
Maldives 2.1 5.61 369.8
Nepal 12 0.41 28,850.7
Pakistan 242.1 1.25 192,826.5
Sri Lanka 82.4 3.96 20,810.6
Armenia 11.2 3.69 3,026.1
Azerbaijan 46.4 4.69 9,868.5
Bahrain 16.6 11.89 1,396.8
Cyprus (Rep. of) 9.2 10.86 848.319
Georgia 15.5 3.89 3,979.7
Iraq 100.4 2.67 37,547.7
Israel 132.1 16.12 8,192.5
Jordan 34.3 4.42 7,747.8
Kuwait 65.8 16.42 4,007.2
Lebanon 41 6.84 5,988.2
Oman 64.7 13.89 4,654.4
Qatar 33.8 14.73 2,291.4
Saudi Arabia 368.2 11.45 32,157.9
Turkey 461.8 5.8 79,622.1
United Arab Emirates 149.5 16.13 9,266.9
Yemen 23.1 0.84 27,477.6
Australia 460.3 18.93 24,309.3
New Zealand 74.8 16.37 4,565.2
Fiji 17.7 19.67 897.5
Papua New Guinea 7.2 0.92 7,776.1
Solomon Islands 0.6 1.09 594.9
Vanuatu 0.5 2.03 270.5
Kiribati 0.1 1.08 114.4
Marshall Islands 0.3 4.99 53.1
Micronesia (Fed. States
0.5 4.75 104.9
of)
Samoa 0.8 4.12 194.5
Tonga 0.5 4.92 106.9
Tuvalu 0.01 1.22 9.9
Belarus 67.07 7.1 9,482

Eastern
Europe
Bulgaria 67.2 9.5 7,098

Czech Republic 179.1 17.0 10,548
Hungary 128.3 13.1 9,821
76 | P a g e
Region (×1000)
Poland 516.3 13.4 38,593
Republic of Moldova 5.7 1.4 4,063
Romania 228.3 11.8 19,373
Russian Federation 1,380.9 9.6 143,440
Slovakia 87.3 16.1 5,429
Ukraine 180.2 4.0 44,624
Antigua and Barbuda 1.1 11.39 92.8

Bahamas 6.9 17.33 392.8
Barbados 3.2 11.23 285.1
Dominica 0.7 8.36 73.1
Dominican Republic 47.2 4.43 10,648.7
Grenada 1.0 8.81 107.4
Haiti 5.7 0.52 10,848.2
Jamaica 12.2 4.33 2,803.4
Saint Kitts and Nevis 0.7 11.35 56.2
Saint Lucia 1.7 8.65 186.4
Saint Vincent and the
0.9 7.68 109.7
Latin America and Caribbean
Grenadines
Trinidad and Tobago 11.9 8.69 1,365.0
Belize 1.6 4.13 367.0
Costa Rica 31.4 6.46 4,857.3
El Salvador 25.9 4.20 6,146.5
Guatemala 45.4 2.72 16,673.0
Honduras 13.6 1.65 8,189.6
Mexico 977.6 7.60 128,632.1
Nicaragua 10.6 1.71 6,150.1
Panama 29.4 7.36 3,990.5
Argentina 279.3 6.37 43,847.3
Bolivia (Plurinational
33.0 3.03 10,888.5
State of)
Brazil 1,328.7 6.34 209,568.0
Chile 168.9 9.32 18,131.9
Colombia 237.0 4.88 48,654.4
Ecuador 70.8 4.32 16,385.5
Paraguay 31.5 4.68 6,725.5
Peru 138.3 4.35 31,774.3
Uruguay 29.7 8.63 3,444.1
Venezuela (Bolivarian
196.4 6.23 31,518.9
Republic of)
77 | P a g e
Region (×1000)
Canada 622.3 17.1 36,286

USA and
Canada
United States of America 7,255 22.4 324,119
Albania 14.0 4.8 2,904

Austria 157.4 18.4 8,570
Belgium 256.5 22.6 11,372
Bosnia and Herzegovina 16.7 4.4 3,802
Croatia 48.4 11.4 4.225
Western Europe & Others (except USA & Canada)
Denmark 138.7 24.4 5,691

Estonia 18.9 14.4 1,309
Finland 115.5 20.9 5,524
France 1,353.7 20.9 64,668
Germany 1,958.2 24.3 80,682
Greece 141.2 12.9 10,919
Iceland 8.4 25.2 332.0
Ireland 87.3 18.5 4,714
Italy 1,132.1 18.9 59,801
Latvia 25.1 12.8 1,956
Lithuania 42.3 14.9 2,850
Luxembourg 9.8 17.0 576
Malta 8.1 19.2 420
Montenegro 3.7 5.9 626
Netherlands 422.6 24.9 16,980
Norway 151.2 28.7 5,272
Portugal 154.9 15.0 10,304
Serbia 48.8 5.5 8,813
Slovenia 30.9 14.9 2,069
Spain 824.6 17.9 46,065
Sweden 236.9 24.0 9,852
Switzerland 209.2 25.0 8,379
United Kingdom 1,362.3 20.9 65,111
78 | P a g e
Appendix 4: Classification: E-scrap collection data from official
take-back systems
Table 9.4. Classification: E-scrap collection data from official take-back systems
Quantity
Country Year kg/inh Source
(tonnes)
Austria 2015 78,871 9.14 Eurostat
Belgium 2015 109,050 9.67 Eurostat
Bulgaria 2015 58,776 8.19 Eurostat
Canada 2012 300,850 8.6 Statistics Canada
China 2013 1,290 0.95 Wang et al., 2013
Croatia 2015 20,042 4.76 Eurostat
Cyprus 2015 2,224 2.61 Eurostat
Czech Republic 2015 71,395 6.77 Eurostat
Denmark 2015 68,387 12.03 Eurostat
Estonia 2015 5,291 4.02 Eurostat
Finland 2015 53,892 9.84 Eurostat
France 2015 575,050 8.63 Eurostat
Germany 2014 615,425 7.6 Eurostat
Greece 2015 47,862 4.42 Eurostat
Hungary 2015 51,731 5.26 Eurostat
Iceland 2014 2,134 6.52 Eurostat
Ireland 2015 39,835 8.57 Eurostat
Italy 2014 213,719 3.52 Eurostat
EU-Japan Centre for
Japan 2014 1,528,389 12.07
Industrial Cooperation
Latvia 2015 4,401 2.23 Eurostat
Liechtenstein 2015 428 11.42 Eurostat
Lithuania 2015 15,512 5.34 Eurostat
Luxembourg 2014 5,824 10.22 Eurostat
Malta 2014 1,252 2.93 Eurostat
Netherlands 2015 138,531 8.18 Eurostat
Norway 2015 84,329 16.2 Eurostat
Poland 2015 189,382 4.99 Eurostat
Portugal 2015 63,885 6.17 Eurostat
Romania 2014 29,853 1.5 Eurostat
Slovenia 2015 9,094 4.41 Eurostat
Slovakia 2015 21,763 4.01 Eurostat
Spain 2014 176,100 3.79 Eurostat
Sweden 2014 119,514 12.2 Eurostat
United Kingdom 2015 655,106 10.06 Eurostat
United States of America 2014 1,269,000 4.0 US EPA
79 | P a g e
Appendix 5: Identification of E-waste at Customs
The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (“Harmonized System” - HS) is a
multipurpose international nomenclature developed by the World Customs Organization for the
classification of goods. It comprises about 5,000 commodity groups, each identified by a six-digit
code, arranged in a legal and logical structure and supported by well-defined rules to achieve uniform
classification. Products are described in Sections and Chapters in terms of headings and sub-
headings. The system is used by more than 200 countries as a basis for their customs tariffs and for
the collection of international trade statistics. Under the HS all goods including wastes are regarded
as commodities.
In 1998 the 'UN-EP Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous
Wastes and their Disposal' fourth Conference of the Parties added Annexes VIII and IX to provide
further elaboration as to the wastes regulated by the Convention as listed in its Annexes I and III.
Wastes listed in Annex VIII are characterised as being hazardous by reference to Article 1, paragraph
1(a), of the Convention. However, their designation in Annex VIII does not preclude reaching a
conclusion that a certain waste should not be regarded as being hazardous when it does not exhibit
any of the hazard characteristics listed in Annex III. For example:
A1180 Waste electrical and electronic assemblies or scrap9 containing components such as
accumulators and other batteries included on list A, mercury-switches, glass from cathode-ray
tubes and other activated glass and PCB capacitors, or contaminated with Annex I constituents
(e.g., cadmium, mercury, lead, polychlorinated biphenyl) to an extent that they possess any of the
characteristics contained in Annex III (note the related entry on list B B1110)10
Footnotes:
9 This entry does not include scrap assemblies from electric power generation.
10 PCBs are at a concentration level of 50 mg/kg or more.
Wastes listed in Annex IX are not regarded as being wastes covered under Article I, paragraph 1(a)
of the Convention i.e. they are not hazardous wastes for the purposes of the Basel Convention unless
they contain Annex I categories of wastes to be controlled, to an extent causing them to exhibit
hazardous characteristic listed in Annex III. For example:
B1110 Electrical and electronic assemblies:

• Electronic assemblies consisting only of metals or alloys
• Waste electrical and electronic assemblies or scrap 19 (including printed circuit boards) not
containing components such as accumulators and other batteries included on list A, mercury-
switches, glass from cathode-ray tubes and other activated glass and PCB capacitors, or not
contaminated with Annex I constituents (e.g., cadmium, mercury, lead, polychlorinated biphenyl)
or from which these have been removed, to an extent that they do not possess any of the
characteristics contained in Annex III (note the related entry on list A A1180)
• Electrical and electronic assemblies (including printed circuit boards, electronic components and
wires) destined for direct reuse, 20 and not for recycling or final disposal21
Footnotes:
19
This entry does not include scrap from electrical power generation.
20
Reuse can include repair, refurbishment or upgrading, but not major reassembly.
21
In some countries these materials destined for direct re-use are not considered wastes.
Several Basel Convention wastes were included in the 2002 Edition of the HS for the benefit of the
Convention. In 2003 the Basel Convention examined 'The Relationship of the lists of wastes of the
80 | P a g e
Basel Convention with, and their identification in, the World Customs Organization Harmonized
Commodity Description and Coding System’. In 2013 the lists of wastes covered under the Basel
Convention were presented to the Harmonized System Committee of the World Customs
Organization (WCO) with the intention to have such wastes specifically identified in the HS. The
Secretariat of the Basel Convention had prepared that detailed proposal for amendments to the HS
in order, amongst other things, to establish wherever possible a one-to-one relation between the
Basel waste codes and the HS by: (a) Defining specific codes in the HS corresponding the Basel
waste codes to avoid the use of general codes; (b) Isolating waste from non-waste; and (c) Isolating
hazardous waste from non-hazardous waste. However, due to its complexity, review of the proposal
continues. Dependent on the Harmonized System Review Sub-Committee completing its work on the
identification of e-waste by the end of 2018, and barring reservations, new e-waste codes will be
included in the HS and enter into force on 1 January 2022 (UN-EP Basel Convention, 2017).
81 | P a g e
ABOUT HAROKOPIO UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS (HUA)
Harokopio University of Athens (HUA) is a flexible, highly specialised and dynamic University in
Athens, Greece, providing excellence-oriented teaching and research. It specialises in issues relating
to the Quality of Life and sustainability, including all aspects of waste management in the context of
the Circular Economy. Through its proven track record in national, European and private-funded
research programmes and its high quality and extensive research output, HUA has built a
comprehensive co-operation network with other academic and research institutes, as well as the
private and public sector, at national and international level.
THE AUTHORS
Katia Lasaridi is Professor in Environmental Management and Technology at the School of
Environment, Geography and Applied Economics in Harokopio University. She has served as
President of the Board of the Hellenic Recycling Agency, i.e. the public body responsible for the
implementation and regulation of the Extended Producer Responsibility policies in Greece. Currently
she serves HUA as Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs and International Relations. Katia has been
involved in waste management for over 25 years. A physicist by education (National and Kapodistrian
University of Athens, Greece), she holds an MSc and a PhD in organic waste treatment from the
University of Leeds, UK. She has extensive research and consultancy experience with local
authorities and the industry in various aspects of waste management. She has published over 150
research papers in peer reviewed Journals and Conference proceedings. She has been the Principal
Investigator in over 30 waste related national and international projects focusing mainly on waste
prevention, organic/food waste and WEEE.
Evangelos Terzis recently joined the research team of Harokopio University to work on WEEE and
food waste. He is an Environmental Technologist specialised in waste management. He earned his
PhD in Environmental Science from Bradford University, UK. Evangelos has over 25 years teaching
and research experience as lecturer in Environmental Science in the University of Bradford and the
Technological Educational Institution of Crete. He has also worked in the NGO WWF-Greece as a
Policy Officer for water and pollution, as special collaborator in the Ministry of the Environment and
Energy and as consultant to Local Authorities on issues related to environmental protection and waste
management, while he served as member of the Board of the Hellenic Recycling Agency. He has
published over 40 research papers in peer reviewed Journals and Conference proceedings.
Christina Chroni is a key researcher in the Circular Economy research group in Harokopio
University, specialising on Waste Prevention and Sustainable Resources Management. She is an
Agricultural Biotechnologist (Agricultural University of Athens), while she holds an MSc and a PhD in
Waste Treatment from Harokopio University. She has participated in 14 national and international
projects related to waste management and environmental technologies, five of which were co-funded
by the LIFE programme. She has published over 50 research papers in peer reviewed Journals and
Conference proceedings. Since 2010 she has been working for Harokopio University as Assistant
Project Manager and Research Fellow in national and EU funded projects.
Konstantinos Abeliotis is Associate Professor in Computational Environmental Management at the

School of Environment, Geography and Applied Economics in HUA. He is a Chemical Engineer
(University of Patras) and earned his Ph.D. from New Jersey Institute of Technology, U.S.A. Currently
he is serving as Deputy Rector of Student Affairs and Administration in Harokopio University, and is
a member of the Committee on «Food Waste Prevention» of the Hellenic Ministry of Agricultural
82 | P a g e
Development and Food. His research interests include life cycle assessment of products and
processes; the environmental impact of households; and environmental impacts of WEEE, food and
food waste. He has published over than 90 research papers in peer reviewed Journals and
Conference proceedings.
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84 | P a g e

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STATISTICS ON THE NATIONAL

ARISINGS OF E-SCRAP AND THE

FUNDED BY THE BUREAU OF INTERNATIONAL RECYCLING (BIR)

Authored by: K.E. Lasaridi, E. Terzis, C. Chroni, K. Abeliotis

For 1,808,362 read 1,825,000

For Population(thousands) read Population (thousands)

For 4,692,702 read 4,639,000

For (tn) read (Mt)

1. SCOPE OF THE STUDY ...................................................................................................................... 11

5.3 Asia-Pacific ........................................................................................................................................... 33

6.1 Regulatory framework ......................................................................................................................... 41

Appendix 3: Classification of e-scrap generated per country in 2016 ................................................ 74

Abbreviations and acronyms

Scope of the Study and Definitions

3.1. The desk study

3.2. Calculation of sales and e-scrap generated

1 1. Large household appliances; 2. Small household appliances; 3. IT and telecommunications equipment; 4.

Figure 3.1. Weibull cumulative distribution function.

3.3. Projections of e-scrap arisings

4.3 Eastern Europe

4.4 Latin America & Caribbean

4.5 USA & Canada

4.6 Western Europe and others (except USA and Canada)

4.7 Constraints for the desk study

Kenya 2007 35,349 7,350 0.2 Schluep et al., 2009

PCs, TVs, refrigerators, washing

Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam

Philippines 2014 99,078 69,860 0.71 Unspecified WEEE

Vietnam 2014 92,485 18,000 0.20 Unspecified e-waste

Bulgaria 2014 7,246 61,353 8.5 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017

Hungary 2014 9,877 81,715 8.3 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017

Poland 2014 38,018 411,809 10.8 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017

Romania 2014 19,947 123,694 6.2 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017

Slovakia 2014 5,416 44,785 8.3 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017

refrigerators and freezers

Domestic WEEE (Excludes white

TVs, mobile phones, computer

Computers, printers, fax

Denmark 2014 5,627 122,689 21.8 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017

Estonia 2014 1,316 13,014 9.9 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017

Finland 2014 5,451 98,530 18.1 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017

EU EU-28 2014 506,974 7.682.932 15.2 E-scrap EUROSTAT, 2017

E-scrap (kt) 110 4,868 871 801 3,686 7,007 17,343

E-scrap (kg/inh) 0.35 1.5 8.6 2.4 10.4 16.3 3.7

(*) total population of each geographical region

5.6 Latin America & Caribbean

6.1 Regulatory framework

Figure 7.1. Global e-scrap quantities 2016 – 2025 (kt).

Figure 7.2. E-scrap generation per inhabitant 2016 – 2025 (kg/inh).

Base stations for transmission/reception of voice, images/other

Kitchen (f.i. large furnaces, ovens,

109 Freezers 2.6 23.2 17.4

Professional Cooling (f.i. large air

114 Microwaves (incl. combined, excl. grills) 0.8 14.7 9.4

2. Small household appliances

204 Vacuum Cleaners (excl. professional) 1.7 6.9 12.4

Personal Care (f.i. tooth brushes, hair

Small IT (f.i. routers, mice, keyboards,

Desktop PCs (excl. monitors,

Key statistical properties of the Weibull distribution are:

Eritrea 1.0 0.18 5,351.7

Kazakhstan 119.8 6.71 17,855.4

Brunei Darussalam 7.4 17.23 428.874