World's E-Waste to Grow 33 Percent by 2017, Report Says

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.