Technology-Driven E-Waste Management: Knowledge Mapping and Bibliometric Insights of Global Research Trends

Abstract

Electronic waste (e-waste) is now among the most rapidly expanding global environmental problems, present danger to sustainable development. Between 2010 and 2022, the world produced an estimated 34 million metric tons of e-waste per year, more than doubling to 62 million metric tons/year over the 12-year period, a ratio that by all means was comparable to an alarming 82%. This work analyses the e-waste management related technology research literature using a bibliometric review of 362 publications obtained from the Scopus database for the mid-1977 to mid-2025 period. Descriptive analysis was done to examine annual publication growth, citation features, authorship patterns, and international collaboration using the Biblioshiny interface of the Bibliometrix R package. The keyword co-occurrence analysis indicated that main research frames included recycling technologies, sustainability integration, environmental impact, resources recovery, etc. By mapping out the intellectual structure and dynamic evolution of academic contributions, the research provides informative implications about the intellectual landscape of technology-driven e-waste management and topics therein that can be investigated further in future studies.

Keywords: E-Waste, Technological Advancement, Bibliometric Analysis

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