Legislative actions on WEEE in China

Abstract

Now China has become one of the largest manufacturer and consumer of electronic products, thus consequently generating a large quantity of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), resulting in serious pollution. Therefore, it is vital and urgent to make the legislations on WEEE complete and formulate suitable policies and regulations for Chinese situation to better the management of WEEE. This paper presents the review of the current WEEE situation and legislative actions taken by the central government and relative administrations. Although the action plans and regulations about WEEE in China have been drafted, deficiencies are obvious. The legislations to regulate WEEE recycling and disposal have not yet been finalized. Extended producer responsibilities (EPR) also have been introduced but are not well defined. In addition, the difficulties for the formulation of the laws and regulations are discussed.