It has been called the “dirty underbelly” of electronics. 
 
 E-waste — all those discarded electrical or electronic devices, from cell phones and TVs to tablets and computers. 
 
 The numbers are staggering. And now, a world e-waste map — the first of its kind — shows just how staggering. 
 
 The average Canadian, for example, generated about 24 kilograms of e-waste in 2012. That’s more than 860,000 tonnes for the entire country, roughly equivalent to the weight of about 1,700 fully loaded Boeing 747s at take off. 
 
 But the biggest producer of e-waste is the United States, with an astonishing 9,359,000 tonnes produced in 2012, about 29 kilograms per person, according to the map, which was created by a number of agencies through their “solving e-waste problem” (StEP) initiative. 
 
 The numbers are mind-boggling, said Josh Lepawsky, a professor at Memorial University in St. John’s, N.L., and a member of StEP. 
 
 “The main purpose (of the map) is to give a sense how much electronic waste is present in any given any country,” said Lepawsky. 
 
 It also allows a comparison between purchasing power in different countries, which is a measure of wealth, he said. 
 
 (The richer the country, the more e-waste it generally generates.) 
 
 By 2017, the volume of discarded e-products worldwide is expected to be 33 per cent higher than in 2012 and weigh the equivalent of eight of the Great Pyramids of Egypt. 
 
 Haiti is among the lowest producers of e-waste in the world, with less than 8,000 tonnes produced in 2012, or less than one kilogram per person. 
 
 Afghanistan, too, was among the lowest in the world, with less than 19,000 tonnes of e-waste for the country, or 0.58 kilogram per person. 
 
 The map is surprising in parts, said Lepawsky. 
 
 Singapore is much wealthier than Canada, he said, “when you look at e-waste generated.” In Singapore, a tiny country, the average person generated about 36 kilograms in 2012. 
 
 “The world is changing quite quickly,” he said. 
 
 Luxembourg is another example. 
 
 It has a much smaller population than the U.S., 520,000, compared to more than 314 million, but more new electrical and electronic equipment comes to the market in Luxembourg per capita. 
 
 (The U.S. is the largest consumer in absolute terms but it is behind Luxembourg in per capita terms.) 
 
 It is a disheartening number, said Miriam Diamond, a professor in the department of earth sciences at the University of Toronto, referring to the e-waste that emanates from Canada. 
 
 “It represents throwing away a tremendous amount of energy that went into making it in the first place.” 
 
 Used electronics often make their way to the developing world where some are reused. 
 
 But, Diamond says, “In a lot of the recycling sector, they are dismantled by hand. That is a serious threat to health and the environment.” 
 
 Innovation is a trademark in the world of electronics, especially in the world of cellphones, laptops and computers, where engineers come up with distinct, sleek styles to lure people to buy more. 
 
 “Why won’t these same smart people also find a way that electronics can be used longer or reused in the best way, too?” she asked. 
 
 The cost of mining new resources is also staggering. 
 
 “These minerals that we mine are scarce. . . is it worth it? Mining, too, has negative impact on people and places.” 
 
 For Lepawsky, the solution to the tonnes of e-waste is relatively simple. 
 
 “Stop buying new electronics; use what you have for longer,” he said, adding that sometimes buying new products is about fashion more than anything else. ||||| An employee holds circuit boards at the Coopermiti warehouse of electronic waste in Sao Paulo March 6, 2013. According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Brazil generates the greatest amount of electronic waste (e-waste) per capita among emerging countries. 
 
 OSLO (Reuters) - China and other emerging economies have overtaken Western nations in dumping old electronic goods, from TVs to cellphones, and will lead a projected 33 percent surge in the amount of waste from 2012 to 2017, a U.N.-backed alliance said on Sunday. 
 
 The report, the first to map electronic waste by country to promote recycling and safer disposal of often toxic parts, shows how the economic rise of developing nations is transforming the world economy even in terms of pollution. 
 
 "The e-waste problem requires attention globally," Ruediger Kuehr of the U.N. University and executive secretary of the Solving the E-Waste Problem (StEP) initiative, told Reuters. StEP is run by U.N. agencies, governments, NGOs and scientists. 
 
 The weight of electronic goods discarded every year worldwide would rise to 65.4 million tonnes from 2012 to 2017 from 48.9 million in 2012, with most of the growth in developing nations, StEP said. 
 
 By 2017, it would make the annual piles of old washing machines, computers, fridges, electronic toys and other goods with an electric cord or battery the weight equivalent of 200 Empire State Buildings or 11 Great Pyramids of Giza, it said. 
 
 Some waste from rich countries ends up in developing nations, where many people work in hazardous conditions for low wages dismantling it. 
 
 Waste from emerging countries, as well as Russia and other former Soviet bloc nations, overtook totals from Western nations such as the United States, the European Union, Japan and Australia around 2012, StEP data showed. 
 
 In that year, the West produced 23.5 million tonnes of waste and all others 25.4 million, a shift from the previous estimates for 2007 when the West accounted for most, StEP said. 
 
 MOUNTAINS OF TRASH 
 
 By 2017, trash from the West would rise to 28.6 million tonnes, far less than the 36.7 million from other countries, a side-effect of the economic rise of emerging nations such as India, Brazil and South Africa. 
 
 "Although there is ample information about the negative environmental and health impacts of primitive e-waste recycling methods, the lack of comprehensive data has made it hard to grasp the full magnitude of the problem," Kuehr said in the report. 
 
 Consumers could help with better recycling, especially at Christmas, he said. 
 
 Waste can be valuable if recycled. One study estimated that a million cellphones can yield 24 kg (53 lb) of gold, 250 kg of silver, 9 kg of palladium and more than 9 tonnes of copper. 
 
 Sunday's report also showed that the average person on the planet produces 7 kg of electronic waste every year. Americans were among the highest with 29.8 kg each. 
 
 Separately, U.S.-based experts trying to track the fate of waste said that about two-thirds of U.S. electronics waste is collected for re-use or recycling and that only 8.5 percent of the collected units are exported. 
 
 Bigger electronic items, especially TVs and computer monitors, were exported to nations including Mexico, Venezuela, Paraguay and China, it said. Smaller items often went to Asia. 
 
 Jeremy Gregory, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a co-author of the report, told Reuters it was hard to track trade because the waste is often merely described as "mixed metals" on import documents. 
 
 StEP urged nations to adopt clearer trade descriptions. 
 
 For StEP maps, click here: here 
 
 (Editing by Alison Williams) ||||| The U.S. generated about 258.2 million units of used computers, monitors, TVs and cellphones in 2010, 171.4 million of which were collected for recycling, and 14.4 million were exported, according to a United Nations report. 
 
 By 2017, the global volume of discarded refrigerators, TVs, cellphones, computers, monitors and other electronic waste will weigh almost as much as 200 Empire State Buildings, a new report predicts. 
 
 The forecast, based on data gathered by United Nations organizations, governments, and nongovernment and science organizations in a partnership known as the "Solving the E-Waste Problem (StEP) Initiative," predicts e-waste generation will swell by a third in the next five years, led by the United States and China. The StEP Initiative created a map of the world's e-waste, which is available online. [Infographic: Tracking the World's E-Waste] 
 
 Until now, comprehensive data on global e-waste has been hard to come by, and countries define e-waste very differently. For example, the United States only includes consumer electronics such as TVs and computers, whereas European nations include everything that has a battery or power cord in the e-waste category. 
 
 "This is why we have developed this e-waste map. It's the first time we're introducing really comparable data," said Ruediger Kuehr of United Nations University, in Germany, and executive secretary of the StEP Initiative. "In addition, it gives magnitude to the issue on a national level, so policymakers are aware of the issue in order to take action," Kuehr told LiveScience. 
 
 Mapping worldwide e-waste 
 
 The U.S. and China produce more total e-waste than any other country. [ See full-size infographic Credit: Ross Toro, Infographic Artist 
 
 The interactive e-waste map shows data from 184 countries on the estimated amount of electrical and electronic equipment that hits the market and how much e-waste it ultimately generates. Having this data could help governments and companies manage their e-waste. 
 
 The world produced nearly 54 million tons (49 million metric tons) of used electrical and electronic products last year. That's an average of about 43 lbs. (20 kg), or the weight of eight bricks, for each of the 7 billion people on Earth. 
 
 The StEP Initiative forecasts that by 2017, the world will produce about 33 percent more e-waste, or 72 million tons (65 million metric tons). That amount weighs about 11 times as much as the Great Pyramid of Giza. 
 
 China currently leads the world in production of electrical and electronic equipment. In 2012, China produced about 12.2 million tons (11.1 million metric tons), followed by the U.S. with about 11 million tons (10 million metric tons). 
 
 However, the United States eclipses China in e-waste generation, because more products previously put on the market in the U.S. are likely to be retired. In 2012, the U.S. produced about 10.4 million tons (9.4 million metric tons), versus China's 8 million tons (7.3 million metric tons). 
 
 The U.S. generated the seventh highest amount of e-waste per person — about 66 lbs. (30 kg) per capita. (The country with the highest per capita e-waste was Qatar.) 
 
 E-waste in the U.S. 
 
 The U.S. National Center for Electronics Recycling (NCER) and MIT have released a detailed report on U.S. generation, collection and export of used electronics in conjunction with the e-waste map. 
 
 The U.S. generated about 258.2 million units of used computers, monitors, TVs and cellphones in 2010, 171.4 million of which were collected for recycling, and 14.4 million were exported, according to the report. [Green Guide to Holiday Electronic Gifts (Op-Ed)] 
 
 The U.S. is a major exporter of used electronics. The U.S. exports more CRT (cathode ray tube) monitors by weight than any other product, and more cellphones than any other electronics product in terms of numbers. 
 
 However, export numbers could be an underestimate, because exporters want to keep them quiet in order to bypass restrictions or bad press, said Jason Linnell, executive director of NCER. 
 
 In terms of recycling, "We are a little bit behind compared with countries in the European Union," Linnell told LiveScience.European countries have had established e-waste recycling programs for more than 10 years, whereas only 25 U.S. states have started similar programs, Linnell said. 
 
 But recycling of e-waste is on the rise. "We're seeing more recycling programs, and a lot of states are collecting 5 to 6 lbs. (2.3 to 2.7 kg) of e-waste per person per year," he said. 
 
 "It's better than the past, but we we still have a ways to go," Linnell said. 
 
 Follow Tanya Lewis on Twitterand Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook& Google+. Original article on LiveScience.
– Electronic waste is growing at a staggering rate—Americans alone chucked an average of 65 pounds of old electronic goods each last year—and it is set to surge another 33% within five years unless consumers and producers change their ways, LiveScience reports. Most of the waste ends up in developing nations, and those countries plus the former Soviet bloc now produce more electronic waste of their own than Western nations, according to a new map that tracks the problem worldwide for the first time. The world produced around 54 million tons of electronic waste in total last year, researchers found, and though it can be valuable—a million old cell phones can yield 53 pounds of gold and 550 pounds of silver, Reuters notes—recycling rates remain low and where e-waste is recycled, it is often done so in a way harmful to both the environment and workers' health. The rate of waste is so high because engineers are constantly creating innovative designs to lure people to buy more, an earth sciences professor tells the Toronto Star. "Why won’t these same smart people also find a way that electronics can be used longer or reused in the best way, too?”