Driven by rising incomes and high demand for new gadgets and appliances, the average increase in e-waste across all 12 countries and areas analysed – Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam – was 63% in the five years ending in 2015 and totalled 12.3million tonnes.
China alone more than doubled its generation of e-waste between 2010 and 2015 to 6.7m tonnes, up 107%.
Using UN University's estimation methodology, the research shows rising e-waste quantities outpacing population growth.
"For many countries that already lack infrastructure for environmentally sound e-waste management, the increasing volumes are a cause for concern," says co-author Ruediger Kuehr of UN University. "Increasing the burden on existing waste collection and treatment systems results in flows towards environmentally unsound recycling and disposal."
The total amount of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) put on the market worldwide increased from 51.33m tonnes in 2007 to 56.56m tonnes in 2012.
Asia, including the 12 nations and areas in this study, is the largest consumer of EEE, buying nearly half of EEE put on the market.
The increase is particularly striking, according to researchers, given the drop in EEE sales in Europe and the Americas in 2012 following the global financial crisis.
Asia generates the highest volume of e-waste; however, on a per-capita basis, this amounts to 3.7kg per inhabitant, as compared to Europe and the Americas, which generate nearly four times as much per capita – 15.6kg per inhabitant.