Visualizing Transboundary Shipments of E-waste
2012
1996
These visualizations are an interactive depiction of work published as part of the Reassembling Rubbish project in academic journals. For readers who may be interested, the full articles are available free without subscription at the following links:
What do the Cartograms Show?
The cartograms depict data available from the United Nations Statistics Division's "COMTRADE" database. The data are organized into territories and the flows of e-waste that connect them. Territories are colour coded to reflect their status under Annex VII of the Basel Convention (blue for Annex VII territories and yellow for non-Annex VII territories). The larger the circle representing a given territory (e.g., Canada) the more other territories report receiving e-waster shipments from it. Readers not already familiar with the significance of the division between Annex VII and non-Annex VII territories are invited to download the publications above, both of which provide discussion about this issue.
The flow lines are also colour coded to reflect the Annex VII status of their source. In other words, flows shown in blue originate in Annex VII territories; flows shown in yellow originate in non-Annex VII territories. The thicker the flow lines, the larger the volume of the flow.
The data come with some extremely important caveats and limits. These are discussed fully in the Methods section of Lepawsky (2014, see above for free download). In summary, the caveats and limits of the data include:
- The data showing information only for "waste batteries and scrap of primary batteries and electrical accumulators" (technically referred to as Harmonised System 2002 code 854810).
- The data are import transactions reported by a given territory. In other words, these are data showing what Territory "A" says it receives as an import from any other territories in a given year.
- The data miss unreported trade (whether licit or illicit).
- The data visualized here are best understood as proxy measurements of overall transboundary shipments of electronic waste.
How do I use the Cartograms?
Interacting with the cartograms is as easy as using any webpage:
- Click on a given territory (e.g., Canada) and its trade network will be highlighted and a side-bar with additional information will pop-up.
- Read flow lines in a clockwise direction from a given territory to the territory(ies) it reports receiving shipments of e-waste from.
How were the Cartograms Produced?
A full discussion of the methods used to build these visualizations is available in Lepawsky (2014, see link above for free download). To summarize the process:
- Data were downloaded from COMTRADE and organized in a spreadsheet.
- The organized data were imported into Gephi, a free open-source network analysis software.
- The networks created in Gephi were exported using Sigmajs Exporter, a project of the Oxford Internet Institute.
