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UNIVERSIT DE MONTRAL

CANADAS TRADE FLOWS OF ELECTRONIC WASTE: MAPS AND

TRENDS

BAHRAM VAKILIAN

DPARTEMENT DE MATHMATIQUES ET DE GNIE INDUSTRIEL

COLE POLYTECHNIQUE DE MONTRAL

MMOIRE PRSENT EN VUE DE LOBTENTION

DU DIPLME DE MATRISE S SCIENCES APPLIQUES

(GNIE INDUSTRIEL)

DECEMBER 2014

Bahram Vakilian, 2014.

UNIVERSIT DE MONTRAL

COLE POLYTECHNIQUE DE MONTRAL

Ce mmoire intitul :

CANADAS TRADE FLOWS OF ELECTRONIC WASTE: MAPS AND TRENDS

prsent par : VAKILIAN Bahram

en vue de lobtention du diplme de : Matrise s sciences appliques

a t dment accepte par le jury dexamen constitu de :

M. MARGNI Manuele, Doctorat, prsident

Mme BERNARD Sophie, Ph. D., membre et directeur de recherche

M. WARIN Thierry, Ph. D., membre et codirecteur de recherche

M. JOANIS Marcelin, Ph. D., membre

iii

DEDICATION

This thesis is dedicated to my parents

for their love, endless support

and encouragement.

iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am heartily thankful to my supervisor, Assistant Professor Sophie Bernard and co-supervisor,

Associate Professor Thierry Warin, whose encouragement, guidance and support from the initial to the

final level enabled me to develop an understanding of the subject.

I would like to dedicate this work to my beloved parents Mohammad, Anis, my sister Bita, and my

brother Kian who always believed in me, were always there for me and will always be whenever I need

them and specially my grandmother Eshrat who passed away a long time ago but whose spirit is always

with me.

Lastly, I offer my regards and blessings to all of those who supported me in any respect during the

completion of the project.

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RSUM

Avec les avances technologiques et l'utilisation gnralise des dispositifs lectroniques, le sujet des

rebuts lectroniques comme lune des sources de dchets avec la croissance la plus rapide au monde,

particulirement en Amrique du Nord, a t largement soulign dans les cercles politiques et

acadmiques.

Ltude porte sur ce sujet dans un contexte canadien et pose lhypothse selon laquelle il est largement

admis que les pays dvelopps exportent leurs rebuts lectroniques vers les pays en dveloppement; le

Canada serait donc un exportateur de dchets lectroniques vers ces pays.

Afin de rpondre la question de recherche et soutenir lhypothse, ltude cartographie le rseau

Canadien du commerce des dchets lectroniques au moyen du code de base de donnes de lONU

Comtrade 854810 comme donnes de substitution pour les annes 2013 et 1996 et identifie la tendance

au cours de ces priodes. Les partenaires commerciaux, les destinations, avec leur ampleur et leurs

directions au cours des diffrentes annes sont galement dmontrs. En poursuivant l'analyse grce

l'utilisation de modles de sries chronologiques, cette tude projette les flux commerciaux pour les

annes 2014 2018.

En outre, cette recherche a valu les facteurs dchanges internationaux, y compris les rglementations

nationales et internationales, les raisons de ces oprations ainsi que les avantages et les contraintes

potentielles.

En conclusion ltude dmontre que l'hypothse est rejete; l'analyse des donnes de substitutions

montre que le flux de dchets lectroniques du Canada, bien qu'il soit cens tre ax vers l'exportation, a

t ces dernires annes dirig vers l'importation. Au cours de la dernire dcennie, le pays est pass

dexportateur importateur net de dchets lectroniques.

Les projections pour les annes 2014 2018 dmontrent que les importations et les exportations

devraient continuer de crotre sensiblement au mme rythme et qu la fin de cette priode, la position du

Canada sera semblable celle de lanne 2013 en tant qu'importateur net de dchets lectroniques avec

trois fois plus d'importation que d'exportation.

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ABSTRACT

By the expansion of technology advancement and the pandemic use of electronic devices among various

communities, the topic of electronic waste as one of the most rapidly growing source of waste in

different parts of the earth, especially in the North American region has been vastly pointed out in the

political and academic circles.

This study focuses on this issue at the Canadian scale in order to answer the hypothesis that it is widely

accepted that developed countries export their electronic waste to developing countries; therefore

Canada is an exporter of electronic waste to developing countries.

In order to answer the research question and its hypothesis, this study, by means of UN Comtrade

database code 854810 as the proxy data, mapped the Canadian e-waste trade network for 2013 and

1996, and identified its trends during these periods. The trade partners and destinations as well as their

magnitude and directions in different years have also been shown. By continuing the analysis via the use

of time series models, this study has forecasted the short term future of these trade flows from 2014 to

2018.

Furthermore, this research evaluated the international trade factors, including domestic and international

regulations, along with the reasons of such trades as well as the benefits and potential limitations.

In conclusion, this research analysis rejected the hypothesis; the analysis on the UN Comtrade database

code 854810 shows that the proxies e-waste flow for Canada, despite the fact that it is expected to be

more toward export, has been in recent years on the import. In the last decade, the country from a net

exporter switched to the net importer of electronic wastes.

The forecasts outcome also shows that the Canadian import and export from 2014 to 2018 are

expected to continue rising with almost the same speed, and that by the end of this period, Canada will

still stay similar to the latest stage in 2013 as a net importer of the electronic waste with three times more

import than export.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

DEDICATION ................................................................................................................................III

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... IV

RSUM .........................................................................................................................................V

ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... VI

TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................................................. VII

LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... XI

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND NOTATIONS ...................................................................... XV

LIST OF APPENDICES ........................................................................................................... XVIII

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 1

1.1 Importance of the Study ..................................................................................................... 1

1.2 Research Objectives........................................................................................................... 1

1.3 Research Questions and Hypothesis.................................................................................... 2

1.4 Thesis Chronology.............................................................................................................. 3

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................................................................... 4

2.1 E-waste General Prospect .................................................................................................. 4

2.2 Government of Canadas E-waste Definition ....................................................................... 4

2.3 Canadas Recycling Capacity ............................................................................................. 5

2.4 Regulations......................................................................................................................... 6

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2.5 Electronic Product Stewardship Canada ............................................................................. 7

2.6 Global Trade Flows and the Waste Haven Hypothesis ........................................................ 8

2.7 Basel Convention ............................................................................................................. 11

2.8 E-waste Categories .......................................................................................................... 14

2.9 Similar Studies.................................................................................................................. 15

CHAPTER 3 REGULATIONS AND LEGISLATIONS .......................................................... 21

3.1 Canadas Federal E-waste Legislations ............................................................................. 21

3.2 Canadas Provincial E-waste Legislations.......................................................................... 22

3.2.1 Ontario ..