Waste Electrical and Electronic Fund Policy: Current Status and Evaluation of Implementation in China

Abstract

With the accelerated iteration of global electronic and electrical product updates, the demand for electronic and electrical products presents a new trend in which the life cycle of electronic and electrical products is shortened. Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) products pose a great threat to the global ecological environment, and solving this problem is urgent. Therefore, governments around the world have formulated funding policies for WEEE products, which has led to continuous improvements in such policies. Along these lines, we adopt the circular economy concept, extended producer responsibility theory and life cycle assessment method to comparatively analyse and compare the different fund operation modes in China, Germany, Japan and The Netherlands. In addition, based on the data related to fund policy implementation, we point out the problems in the development of the WEEE industry in China. The analysis results show that although China is the largest WEEE market, it is still in the initial stage and lags behind Western countries in efficiency and cost management. Then, taking as an example ‘Go Green’, an O2O classified recycling platform launched in 2005, this paper performs an extended analysis of the “Internet +” recycling model, which was proposed as a WEEE fund operation solution in China. Finally, we discuss the economic impact of this study on the future implementation and valuation of WEEE fund policy.

Evaluation of the Living Conditions and Health Perceptions of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Handlers in the Informal Sector in Dakar

“…Originally designed to improve people's living environment, electronic equipment contains chemicals known to be toxic, making informal recycling and disposal dangerous to people's health on the one hand and the environment on the other [6]. In fact, when they are not handled under adequate sanitary and environmental conditions, electrical and electronic equipment releases a set of pollutants that contribute to air, soil and water pollution [7] [8]. These pollutants include lead, cadmium, mercury, arsenic, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and brominated flame retardants [9] [10] [11].…”