Developing countries must take steps to reduce the high level of electronic waste, according to the United Nations Environment Program. The drastic rise in the electronic waste can harm the health and environment as it contains toxic material.

Over the next decade, the amount of e-waste being produced by mobile phones, computers etc. could climb by as much as 500%.

"It's definitely in the countries which have substantial increase in consumption - countries like China and India, which are still substantial targets for illegal imports of e-waste. The same applies for countries like Nigeria", said Ruediger Kuehr, who oversees zero-emission initiatives at the United Nations University.

In the report, "Recycling from E-Waste to Resources" the UN's agency advised developing countries to set up e-waste management centers of excellence, building on existing organizations working in the area of recycling and waste management.

Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Morocco and South Africa are some of the countries that have been eluded to introduce state-of- art recycling technologies.

"All four would benefit from capacity building in so-called pre- processing technologies such as manual dismantling of e-waste," said the report.