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.
Highlights
With the rapid development of global science and technology, the progress of information and communication technology and the increasing demands of consumers, global electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) is being updated with a faster iteration speed and shorter life cycle
There are a number of studies have explored the waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) management system and fund operation mode, especially in developed countries [19,20]
China draws on foreign advanced WEEE fund operation modes and introduces the original legislation system on extended producer responsibility (EPR) recovery so that manufacturers are responsible for the environmental impact of the whole life cycle of products, including the consumption process of products as well as the design of products, which can be comprehensively considered until the products are discarded
Summary
With the rapid development of global science and technology, the progress of information and communication technology and the increasing demands of consumers, global electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) is being updated with a faster iteration speed and shorter life cycle. China is constantly facing serious e-waste problems caused by increasing domestic power generation and foreign imports [10] To solve this problem, the Chinese government promulgated the Regulations on WEEE Recycling Management in 2009 and the WEEE recycling tax and WEEE fund policy in 2012. If subsidy allocations are not in place, formal and standard recycling enterprises will have to reduce the scale of dismantling and electronic waste will once again flow into illegal dismantling channels. For China, it is necessary to learn from the fund policy experience of developed countries, further improve the extended producer responsibility system, optimize the fund collection and subsidy mechanism, and adopt a series of supporting policies to realize healthy development of the industry and promote the development of circular economy in the whole society. To achieve the primary objectives, this study aims to answer the following questions:
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