The changing geography of global trade in electronic discards: time to rethink the e‐waste problem

This paper provides a synopsis of the changing geography of global trade in electronic waste over time using data available from the U nited N ations COMTRADE database. It quantifies the magnitude and direction of this trade between 206 territories in over 9400 reported trade transactions between 1996 and 2012. The results demonstrate two key findings. First, at its peak in 1996, trade from territories designated as A nnex VII under the Basel Convention (‘developed’ countries) to non‐ A nnex VII territories (‘developing’ countries) accounted for just over 35% of total trade. By 2012 trade from A nnex VII to non‐ A nnex VII territories accounted for less than 1% of total trade. Second, between 1996 and 2012 the two groups of territories evolved different regional trade orientations: A nnex VII territories are predominantly trading intra‐regionally, with 73–82% of total trade moving between A nnex VII territories. In contrast, non‐ A nnex VII territories are mostly trading inter‐regionally: by 2012 less than one‐quarter of non‐ A nnex VII trade moved to other non‐ A nnex VII territories with the rest moving to A nnex VII territories. The results are congruent with an emerging body of research that profoundly troubles the dominant conceptual and policy framings of the global e‐waste problem. Solving that problem will not happen if it is imagined as one predominantly characterised by dumping of e‐waste from rich, ‘developed’ countries of the ‘global North’ in poor, ‘developing’ countries of the ‘global South’. A reframing of the issue of e‐waste is necessary to productively enrich the conceptualisation and policy discussion of e‐waste as an issue of environmental and economic politics and justice.