Group correlation analysis of socio-economic indicators and the volume of collected e-waste in European countries

Abstract

There has been a significant growth in e-waste worldwide and in European countries the growth rate of e-waste entering the market is higher than the growth rate of recycled waste. This is confirmed by comparing the compound annual growth rate figures of 6.85% and 5.7% respectively. The methods of analysis used in this article were Pearson correlation and regression analysis. The study confirms a strong negative correlation between CO2 per capita and e-waste volume in European countries such as Norway, Finland, France, Germany, Sweden and Austria. A linear equation shows that a 1 p.p. increase in CO2 means a reduction of 4,267 kg of e-waste collected per inhabitant. In other European countries, a direct correlation was found between e-waste volume and gross domestic product per capita at purchasing power parity. Thus, waste collected per capita and GDP have the correlation coefficient is 0.97. The third group of countries includes Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Poland, where there was a negative correlation between e-waste collected per capita and population. Overall, the study shows the complex relationship between various factors and e-waste management and indicates the urgency of the problem of growing e-waste volumes.