Recycling Investigation on Household Electrical Appliances in China

The production of electric and electronic equipment is one of the fastest growing areas. This development has resulted in an increase of waste household electrical appliances (WHEA). In view of the environmental problems involved in the management of WHEA, many counties and organizations have drafted national legislation to improve the reuse, recycling and other forms of recovery of such wastes so as to reduce disposal. The existing recycling system (direct way to material recycling) is one solution for both saving materials and reducing environmental impact. But the recycled value is very limited and loosing values of used HEA. The purpose of this paper is intended to have clear picture on the demand of second hand market of used HEA to propose optimal recycling system in China. In this paper, market research on used HEA in eastern part of China is presented. The market research was held in Liaoning province, Jilin province, Helongjiang province, Hebei province and Beijing city in 2008. The used HEA related to the research covers with computers, TVs, refrigerators, washing machines, air-conditioners, video recorders, radios and mobile phones, etc. From the market research data and based on Chinese economic disparity condition, a new scheme (HEA ⇒Used HEA ⇒ Second-hand HEA ⇒ Refurbished HEA ⇒ Used HEA ⇒ Wasted HEA) is proposed for Chinese Used HEA, be differential from developed countries for example as Japan or European Unions.