The new system raises the environmental protection threshold of China's manufacturing industry. E-waste containing a variety of toxic and harmful substances has become an environmental problem facing the world. According to the "Global E-Waste Monitor 2014" released by the United Nations University, a total of 41.8 million tons of e-waste were generated globally in 2014, of which China generated 6 million tons, accounting for 14.3%. The volume should not be underestimated. Taking mobile phones as an example, data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology shows that China’s mobile phone market shipments in 2016 were 560 million units. The industry predicts that the number of mobile phones updated every year in China may reach 400 million to 500 million in the next few years, while the accumulation of used mobile phones has already reached about 1 billion. These discarded products pose huge risks to the environment. Soon, China's electronics industry will face new pressures from environmental protection systems. According to the implementation plan for the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system issued by the State Council of China, government departments such as the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Environmental Protection are required to propose work plans for the recycling and processing of electrical and electronic products by the end of 2017. The State Council also proposed that by 2025, China will basically improve the EPR system for key items, "make significant progress" in product ecological design, and at least half of discarded products will be standardized for recovery and recycling. The new EPR system defines four environmental responsibilities of producers, namely carrying out ecological design, using renewable raw materials, standardizing recycling and strengthening information disclosure. The first two try to reduce the environmental footprint of products from the source, while the latter two try to make producers assume the responsibility for traceability and recycling of products throughout their life cycles. The first batch of key products that will implement EPR are four categories, namely electrical and electronic products, automobiles, lead-acid batteries and beverage packaging. The new EPR system attempts to improve China's existing waste electronic product recycling system. Previously, China promulgated the "Circular Economy Promotion Law" in 2008, which proposed the principle of reducing resource consumption and waste generation in the production, circulation and consumption processes, and that producers are responsible for the environmental footprint of the product's full life cycle, but it did not propose Operable management regulations. In 2009, China launched the operational "Regulations on the Management of Recycling and Disposal of Waste Electrical and Electronic Products", which includes a catalog system for waste electrical and electronic products, an electronic product processing fund system, a processing enterprise qualification licensing system, and a series of systems that are still in use today. . However, this regulation is limited to the standardization of recycling and disposal links, and does not attempt to force improvements in production and design links. The new EPR system is the first time that the control of the environmental footprint of the product's entire life cycle has been incorporated into actual operating procedures at the operational level, from raw material selection, product design to recycling. In addition, the EPR system also hopes to explore new ways to promote formal recycling of e-waste. For example, the system proposed for the first time the establishment of an electronic product recycling mechanism based on the Internet business model to facilitate consumers to use more formal channels instead of discarding them at will or selling them to informal waste recyclers. Effectively combining market mechanisms with public utilities for garbage recycling to form new recycling channels that are in line with consumer habits is the reform direction initiated by the EPR system. In fact, there are already a number of e-waste recycling network platforms exploring formal and market-oriented new models, such as Banana Peel, Ala Environmental Protection Network, Huishou Ge, Xianyu, Aihuishou, etc. The reason why the government needs to find ways to promote the popularization of formal recycling and processing is because currently most of China’s e-waste bypasses formal channels and flows into the hands of unlicensed recyclers and processors. According to a survey by the China Household Electrical Appliances Research Institute, in 2015, 86% waste electronic products were recycled through informal channels. The government has strict qualifications and total volume control for electronic waste processing companies. Currently, there are only 109 companies that have received processing qualifications from the Ministry of Environmental Protection. Many experts told chinadialogue that because a large amount of discarded products are collected by irregular small factories and vendors, formal processing companies simply cannot get enough to eat, and a large proportion of their equipment is idling. The relationship between formal and informal recycling is a difficult issue faced by current policies. If the scavenging part is not controlled, the system will be built in vain and waste will not be collected at all. But whether it is feasible to simply deprive waste pickers of their jobs remains a complex question. Source: Chinadialogue (2017-06-05) (PIDC compilation)
