Electrical and electronic waste management in China: progress and the barriers to overcome

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1 Waste Manage Res 2006: 24: Printed in UK all right reserved Copyright ISWA 2006 Waste Management & Research ISSN X Electrical and electronic waste management in China: progress and the barriers to overcome Serious adverse impacts on the environment and human health from e-waste recycling have occurred in the past and continue to occur in China today, due to a lack of national management strategies. China has made great efforts to face the challenges of the approaching peak increase in the domestic generation of e-waste and the illegal shipment of e-waste from other countries. This study examined recent progress and analysed the main problems associated with this issue in China. It was found that the material and the financial flows of e-waste in China had their own specific characteristics. Nearly 60% of the generated e-wastes were sold to private individual collectors and passed into informal recycling processes. More than 90% of Chinese citizens are reluctant to pay for the recycling of their e-waste. This is due to their traditional understanding that there remained value in these end-of-life products. Regulations concerning e-waste in China have been drafted but their deficiencies are obvious. The extended producer responsibilities (EPR) have been introduced but are not well defined. Eight formal facilities have been planned and are under construction or are in operation along the eastern coast of China but it will be difficult for them to compete with the informal processes for the reasons identified during the study. Xianbing Liu Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan Masaru Tanaka Yasuhiro Matsui Graduate School of Environmental Science, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan Keywords: E-waste management, progress, barrier, China, wmr Corresponding author: Professor Masaru Tanaka, Lab of Environmental Impact Assessment, Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, Okayama University, 1-1, Naka 1-Chome, Tsushima, Okayama, , Japan. Tel: ; fax: ; dns16621@cc.okayama-u.ac.jp and maxta@cc.okayama-u.ac.jp DOI: / X Received 23 September 2005; accepted in revised form 23 November 2005 Figures 1 3, 6 10 appear in colour online: Introduction As China is a large manufacturer and consumer of electronic appliances, the Chinese government has made efforts to tackle the problem caused by the recycling and disposal of waste electrical and electronic equipment (hereinafter referred as e-waste) since The driving forces come from both outside and inside the country. The regulations on electronic products and e-waste recycling management in other countries/regions (especially in EU and its member countries) put great pressure on exports of Chinese electronic products and suitable responses need to be found. Meanwhile, Chinese domestic e-waste stockpiles are approaching a peak. The development of small-scale and informal recycling processes has had serious adverse impacts on the environment and human health in some regions. These informal processes attract material from most of the e-waste generated and thereby become a barrier to the formal recycling businesses. The importance of establishing a regulated e-waste management framework has been widely recognized but progress with regard to legislation, the collecting system and the construction of formal recycling facilities is slow. The purpose of this study was to investigate the progress of e-waste management in China. The material and financial 92 Waste Management & Research

2 Electrical and electronic waste management in China Table 1: WEEE categories according to the EU directive. No. Category Label 1 Large household appliances Large HH 2 Small household appliances Small HH 3 IT & telecommunications equipment ICT 4 Consumer equipment CE 5 Lighting equipment Lighting 6 Electrical and electronic tools (with the exception of large scale stationary industrial tools) E&E tools 7 Toys, leisure and sports equipment Toys 8 Medical devices (with the exception of all implanted and infected products) Medical equipment 9 Monitoring and control instrument M&C flows of e-waste were reviewed on the basis of a rough estimate of the amounts generated. The main barriers to be overcome were also analysed in terms of the public response and regulations drafted by the government. The insufficiencies of the draft regulations are explained by considering the effectiveness of the legislation, system coverage, system financing, the producer s responsibilities and ensuring compliance. Methodology The methodology of this study involved the following range of activities. The statistical data of residential possession and annual sales of the main household electronic appliances were collected. Values for the average life spans of typical kinds of new products were also assumed in order to approximately estimate the likely annual amounts of e-waste generated. More precise calculations of the amount generated could only be done after a detailed survey of the consumption patterns of the products and options for disposal of the used appliances. The material and financial flows of e-waste recycling were generally based on the information obtained about e-waste collection and the existing recycling processes. Printed wiring board (PWB) recycling was selected as an example to demonstrate the informal e-waste recycling processes and possible adverse environmental impacts. Due to the limitations of data sources, some monitored data has been included to explain the pollution that occurred. Interviews with the officials who are in charge of drafting the various pieces of legislation and a literature search were carried out to obtain details of recent progress and to compare with other countries/regions. Definition and generation of e-waste in China Definition of e-waste in China There is no standard or generally accepted definition of e- waste in the world (Widmer et al. 2005). In most cases, e-waste comprises the relatively expensive and essentially durable products used for data processing, telecommunications or entertainment in private households and businesses. According to the definition given in Directive 2002/96/EC of the European Parliament (EU 2002), waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) consists of the 9 categories that are listed in Table 1. China uses the same definition of e-waste as that in the EU directive. The Notice on Strengthening the Environmental Management of WEEE issued by the China State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA 2003) included all categories listed in Table 1 as the management targets. This indicated the overall ambition of the Chinese environmental protection authority to control all possible pollution caused by e-waste. It should only be thought of as the initial response to the growing concern about the e-waste issue in China and has already proved to be insufficient, even before a practical management system could be established. In the final draft of Ordinance on the Management of Waste Household Electrical and Electronic Products Recycling and Disposal prepared by the China National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC 2004), the regulated items include TV sets, refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners and personal computers as the first stage. The types of items to be regulated will be increased by amending the list after the enactment of the legislation. E-waste generation in China In China e-waste is becoming an important waste stream in terms of both quantity and toxicity. The sources can be categorized into domestically generated waste and that imported from other countries. Although the actual quality of e-waste imports is unavailable, China is the destination for a large proportion of e-waste shipments from developed countries. The United States e-waste recycling industry once declared that around 80% of the e-waste they received was exported into Asia, and around 90% of it went to China (BAN 2002). In response to the inflow of e-waste, the Chinese government announced a ban on the importation of e-waste, which Waste Management & Research 93

3 X. Liu, M. Tanaka, Y. Matsui Fig. 1: Urban residential household possession of main electronic appliances in China. came into force on 15 August 2002 (MOFTEC, CGA & SEPA 2002). However, some newspapers have claimed that e-waste imports are still an increasing problem and are spreading from the primary Guangdong Province to other regions such as Zhejiang, Shanghai, Tianjin, Hunan, Fujian and Shandong. At least 14 cases of illegal shipment of e-waste were caught by the Chinese government during (China Environmental News ). The exporters/importers declared that this e-waste was secondhand goods or mixed metals, which are not regulated under the Basel Convention. However, these imports were illegal according to Chinese regulations. With the rapid industrialization and economic development that has occurred in China since the 1980s, an approaching peak of both the possession and obsolescence of electronic appliances is predicted. The residential possessions of the main types of electrical and electronic appliances in urban and rural areas of China during the period 1990 to 2003 are shown in Figures 1 and 2 (China National Statistics Bureau 2004). The growth of product possession can normally be divided into four phases: the primary introduction phase; the rapidly growing phase; the saturation phase; and the declining phase. However, there is a large difference in possession levels of electronic appliances between urban and rural areas because Fig. 2: Rural residential household possession of main electronic appliances in China. 94 Waste Management & Research

4 Electrical and electronic waste management in China Table 2: Average life time of main home appliances in China. Products TV Set Refrigerator Washing machine Air conditioner Personal computer Life time (years) in 1993 & 3.5 in 2003 of the income gap in China. In urban areas, refrigerator and washing machine possession has nearly reached the saturation phase and the possession of a colour TV is also increasing gradually, whereas possession of air conditioners and personal computers is increasing rapidly. In rural areas, black/ white TV is rapidly being replaced by a colour set. The possession of a refrigerator and washing machine is beginning to show rapid growth, whereas possession of an air conditioner is still at the introductory stage. Statistical data concerning the amount of sales and possession of the main electronic appliances in China are available but it is still difficult to precisely estimate and predict the annual amount of obsolete e-waste because of the lack of statistic data on their consumption patterns (life span and the accumulated obsolescence ratio over a period of time). The practical way is to roughly estimate the waste amount based on the sales amount and the assumed average period of use (Table 2). The estimated numbers of the main electronic appliances, obtained by using this method, are listed in Figure 3. In 2003, the total for the five categories was about million units. The weight was around 1.76 million tons. TV sets were the largest contributor and accounted for nearly half of the total. E-waste recycling and disposal processes E-waste recycling material and financial flows The e-waste recycling and disposal in China is typically disorganized at present and the legislation to regulate e-waste recycling has not yet been finalized. The current material and financial flows of e-waste in China are listed in Figures 4 and 5. Private individual collectors formed the main channel for e- waste collection. However, it must be noted that there are also semi-organized collection networks which exist even though they do not exclusively collect e-waste. There are some secondhand appliance markets as well. For example, in Beijing, the capital of China, a survey suggests that there are approximately 5000 individual collectors and 17 secondhand markets. These individual collectors do not have business licences and fixed workshops and they collected all kinds of e-waste. About 60% of the total discarded e-waste is collected by individual peddlers (Beijing Morning News 2005). In contrast to industrialized economies, the consumers are paid by collectors for old, used and non-working appliances in China. Informal e-waste recycling processes Currently the majority of e-waste in China is processed in backyards or small workshops using primary methods such as manual disassembly and open burning. The appliances are stripped of their most valuable and easily extracted components/materials such as printed wiring boards (PWB), cathode ray tubes (CRTs), cables, plastics, metals, condensers and the worthless materials such as batteries, liquid crystal displays (LCDs) or wood. These fractions are processed to directly reusable components and secondary raw materials in a variety of refining and conditioning processes. The remaining parts are dumped or stockpiled directly. The most prominent regions Fig. 3: Estimation of obsolete main electronic appliances in China. Waste Management & Research 95

5 X. Liu, M. Tanaka, Y. Matsui Fig. 4: Material flow of e-waste recycling in China. with small-scale, unlicenced processes are located in the southern Guangdong province and in Zhejiang province in eastern China. They attracted international attention after a report on e-waste trading and processing in Asia from nongovernmental organizations such as the Basel Action Network (BAN) and Greenpeace of China. An example of informal recycling of PWB and the possible environmental impacts is illustrated in Figure 6. Fig. 5: E-waste recycling financial flow in China. Adverse impacts from the informal recycling processes The existing informal recycling and disposal of e-waste in China has caused serious consequences to the surrounding environment and human health. An on-site survey and pollutant monitoring was carried out by researchers from Hong Kong Baptist University at Guiyu town during (Leung et al. 2004). They collected sediment and soil samples from the Liangjiang River, from a residential area that is adjacent to the recycling sites, and from the dumping sites of burnt plastic and waste printer rollers, and the samples were analysed in the laboratory. The results indicated that the concentration of total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) 96 Waste Management & Research

6 Electrical and electronic waste management in China Fig. 6: Informal recycling process of PWB and its environmental impacts in China. was fairly high with the highest being 593 µg kg 1 in the sample sediment from the waste printer rollers dumpsite. Sediment from the Lianjiang River was found to be the most contaminated by polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs, 743 µgkg 1 ). Its concentration exceeded the Canadian Environmental Quality Guidelines Probable Effect Level of 277 µg kg 1 by 2.7-fold. Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs, ng g 1 ) in soils near direct dumping sites were between 10 and 60 times higher than those reported in other contaminated locations in the world. The highest concentrations of total heavy metals appeared in the river sediments and the soils collected from the burnt plastic dump sites. Cu, Pb and Zn were the most abundant metals (Table 3). The study found that the long-term informal recycling of e-wastes in Guiyu appeared to have adverse impacts on the environment and the health of the people working/living there. This type of primary and informal recycling must be prohibited and replaced by environmentally sound manners. Table 3: Selected heavy metal concentration of samples collected from Guiyu (Unit: mg kg 1, dry weight). Location Cu Pb Zn River sediment Soil of burnt plastic dump site Soil of waste printer roller dump site Dutch target value Waste Management & Research 97

7 X. Liu, M. Tanaka, Y. Matsui Fig. 7: Percentage of Beijing residential obsolete options for e-waste. Public responses to e-waste management issues There has been no specific study to examine the reaction of the public to e-waste management in China. Various media, such as websites and newspapers, have designed some simple questionnaires for environmental promulgation or educational purposes. Figures 7 and 8 show the results of an informal survey undertaken during the 2005 World Environmental Day in Beijing, China (SOHU 2005). The survey was carried out on the website and the number of responders was Nearly 57% of them were willing to sell their obsolete electronic appliances to the private peddlers and only about 17% of them would send their e-waste to the producers or recyclers. In theory, the e-waste collected by private collectors passes to the small-scale workshops and is recycled by informal processes driven by economic incentives. Less than 10% of people were willing to store e-waste in their homes because of the high population density in Beijing and the fact that the majority of houses are small apartments. Around 9% of the responders thought that it was their responsibility to pay for the recycling and the disposal of e-waste. Most people (around 64%) thought that the producers should pay for it. The other two surveys carried out in Xian, capital of Shanxi Province and Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province, indicated similar results. These surveys showed that Chinese citizens traditionally look at their obsolete electronic appliances as valuable goods and they would prefer to sell them to get some money back rather than to pay for the treatment of the waste. Fig. 8: Percentage of Beijing residential options of cost burden for e-waste management. 98 Waste Management & Research

8 Electrical and electronic waste management in China Fig. 9: Comparison of Chinese draft e-waste regulations with the regulations in Japan and the EU. Legislative responses to e-waste management Various ministries of the Chinese central government have issued a few transitional legislation documents in response to the growing concern about the increasing piles of e-waste. This transitional legislation is all based on earlier regulations concerning pollution control and prevention of recycling and the disposal of solid waste and has proved to be insufficient. For instance, Notice on Strengthening the Environmental Management of e-waste (SEPA 2003) prohibits the environmentally adverse processing of e-waste. However, the management system for e-waste recycling has not yet been set up and as a result, the informal recycling processes can not be shut down. Several government agencies have been involved in drafting three other new pieces of legislation. The Management Measures for the Prevention of Pollution from Electronic Products prepared by the Ministry of Information Industry (MII), is aimed at reducing the utilization of hazardous and toxic substances in electronic appliances and the possible pollution generated in the manufacture of these products. This draft legislation is the counterpart of the EU RoHS directive. The second draft, prepared by SEPA, is a technical policy document to provide guidance for the pollution control of e-waste recycling. The third one, prepared by NDRC from 2001, is the Ordinance on the Management of Waste Household Electrical and Electronic Products Recycling and Disposal. It is the counterpart of the EU WEEE Directive and is very important for the establishment of an entire management framework for e-waste recycling in China. The final draft of the ordinance was submitted to the State Council in early 2005 and currently an approval is awaited. The introduction of extended producer responsibility (EPR) with well-defined roles for all participants producers, users, authorities and waste managers is essential for designing an effective e-waste management system (Lindqvist 2000). Five parameters, namely the elaboration of the legal regulation, system coverage, system financing, producer s responsibility and compliance ensuring, have been identified to characterize an e-waste management system. Figure 9 shows a graphical comparison of the e-waste management system between China NDRC draft regulation and those in Japan and EU. The grading was done on a subjective basis (Widmer et al. 2005). The values do not indicate how good the performance on the parameter was but merely illustrate the different degrees of the parameters. In the final draft of China NDRC regulation, it was stated that the country will set up a specific fund in order to finance the recycling and disposal of e-waste. The questions such as who will pay, how much they should pay and how to collect and use the fund, etc., are not clear. The unclear financing system will be a bottleneck in the procedure for the smooth implementation of the draft regulation after its enactment. Waste Management & Research 99

9 X. Liu, M. Tanaka, Y. Matsui Fig. 10: Distribution of large-scale e-waste recycling facilities in China. Facilities with large-scale and advanced technical processes As the business prospects for e-waste recycling in China are good, several large-scale facilities with formal and advanced technical processes have been built or are being planned and constructed. Figure 10 shows the names and locations of these facilities (News on website ). All these facilities are spread along the eastern coast of China where there is a relatively developed economy. Two of the facilities have started operating but at present the raw materials for recycling are mainly by-products from the manufacture of electronic products as very few end-of-life electronic appliances are collected and transported to them. Their profits are poor because of an insufficient supply of materials for processing. A manager from Nanjing Jinze Corporation explained that it was very difficult for them to compete with the informal workshops because of the high cost of pollution control (Environmental Times 2004). Conclusions The informal e-waste recycling processes must be prohibited by legislation and replaced by large-scale facilities as soon as possible in China. It will be difficult to establish an e-waste management system based on the EPR principle due to difficulties in drafting the regulations. Some research must be done in order to estimate and more precisely predict the amount of e-waste that is likely to be generated and then to quantify the cost and environmental impacts of the whole recycling system. It is essential that the EPR is defined well enough to establish an effective management framework in China. References BAN (The Basel Action Network) & Silicon Valley Toxicity (SVTC, 2002): Exporting harms. Beijing Morning News (22 August 2005) the representative of Beijing People s Congress recommends to regulate the e-waste recycling and disposal. China Environmental News, Newspaper reports , not all the illegal cases are covered. China National Statistics Bureau (2004) Chinese Statistics Yearbook ( ) Environmental Times (17 December 2004) E-waste recycling calls on policy support from the government. EU Directive 2002/96/EC of European Parliament and of the Council of 27 January 2003 on waste electrical and electronic equipments (WEEE), 13/02/2003, Leung, A., Cai, Z.W., & Wong, M.H. (2004) Environmental contamination from e-waste recycling at Guiyu, Southeast China. In: Proceedings of the 3rd Workshop on Material Cycles and Waste Management in Asia, Tokyo, December, pp Waste Management & Research

10 Electrical and electronic waste management in China Lindquist, T. (2000) Extended Producer Responsibility in Cleaner Production. The International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics, Lund University, Sweden. MOFTEC (Ministry of Foreign Trade & Economic Cooperation), CGA (Custom of General Administration) & SEPA (China State Environmental Protection Administration) Announcement No. 25 (July 3, 2002): Announcement for Issuing the List of Prohibited Goods (Group 4 & 5). NDRC (China State Development & Reform Commission) (17 September 2004): Public comments hearing announcement on Ordinance on the Management of Waste Household Electrical and Electronic Products Recycling and Disposal. News issued in Chinese website ( ) China are planning pilot program for e-waste collection and recycling: SEPA (China State Environmental Protection Administration) (26 August 2003) Notice on strengthening the environmental management of WEEE. SOHU. Survey on the awareness of public on e-waste in Beijing (June 2005). Widmer, R., Oswald-Krapf, H., et al. (2005) Global perspective on e-waste. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 25, Waste Management & Research 101