1 Tracking the global generation and exports of e-waste. Do existing 2 estimates add up? 3 4 Knut Breivik 1,2,*, James M. Armitage 3, Frank Wania 3, Kevin C. Jones 4 5 1 Norwegian Institute for Air Research, Box 100, NO-2027 Kjeller, Norway 6 2 Department of Chemistry, University of Oslo, Box 1033, NO-0315 Oslo, Norway 7 3 Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, 1265 Military 8 Trail, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M1C 1A4 9 4 Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YQ, UK 10 *Corresponding author: Norwegian Institute for Air Research, Box 100, NO-2027, Kjeller, Norway, tel.: 11 +47 63 89 80 00; e-mail:
[email protected] 12 13 Abstract 14 15 The transport of discarded electronic and electrical appliances (e-waste) to developing regions has 16 received considerable attention, but it is difficult to assess the significance of this issue without a 17 quantitative understanding of the amounts involved. The main objective of this study is to track the 18 global transport of e-wastes by compiling and constraining existing estimates of the amount of e-waste 19 generated domestically in each country MGEN, exported from countries belonging to the Organization for 20 Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) MEXP, and imported in countries outside of the OECD 21 MIMP. Reference year is 2005 and all estimates are given with an uncertainty range. Estimates of MGEN 22 obtained by apportioning a global total of ~35,000 kt (range 20,000-50,000 kt) based on a nation’s gross 23 domestic product agree well with independent estimates of MGEN for individual countries.