Abstract
With rising global production and consumption of goods, comes an increase in electronic and electrical waste, e-waste. Almost half the world’s total e-waste generation comes from countries in Asia where the recycle rate is low by world standards. Pacific countries are comparatively small but face specific challenges in managing waste especially e-waste that contains many toxic substances. The environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis (EKC) and quantile regression was applied to panel data from 28 Asia-Pacific countries over the period 2018-2022. GDP and a broad set of socio-demographic, institutional, structural and behavioural drivers that influence e-waste generation were tested. An N-shaped relationship between economic growth and e-waste for countries in the upper quantiles (those with highest e-waste volumes) was revealed. Urbanisation, older aged populations, and renewable energy were associated with increased e-waste. Other factors including population growth, trade openness, younger populations, sectorial employment, education, and government spending have a more nuanced effect on e-waste generation emphasising the need for targeted policies and strategies that consider country-specific profiles. This research is particularly valuable at time when countries in the Asia-Pacific region are facing multiple challenges associated with climate change, population growth, and geopolitical tensions.