Elsevier

Journal of Cleaner Production

Volume 80, 1 October 2014, Pages 87-95
Journal of Cleaner Production

E-waste collection channels and household recycling behaviors in Taizhou of China

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.05.056Get rights and content

Abstract

This paper investigates the collection channels of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE or e-waste) and household recycling behaviors in Taizhou city of China. Taking a questionnaire survey as the main approach, it explores the household generation of eighteen types of e-wastes and analyses the distribution of six disposal alternatives. Besides, it also assesses the determinants of choosing collection channels and evaluates households' attitudes in voluntary return of e-waste. The study found that informal collection is the primary disposal channel of urban household e-waste. A considerable proportion of the obsolete appliances are stored at home, given to others, or discarded, but the amount of e-waste flowing to formal collectors remains small. Compared with formal counterparts, informal collectors are advantageous in the aspects of collection scope, convenience of service, flexibility, and accessibility. An integrated collection system which includes the informal collectors and effective incentive schemes should be designed to fit with the characteristics of Chinese household disposal habits and the socioeconomic conditions.

Introduction

In recent years, waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE or e-waste) has created a new environmental challenge in China, which has become a major receiver and producer of global e-waste. It is estimated that each year approximately 1.5–3.3 million tons of e-waste are imported to China illegally (Zhou and Xu, 2012). Besides, China produces over 2.3 million tons of e-waste annually and this is expected to increase significantly (Qu et al., 2013). Today the majority of e-waste in China is recycled by the informal sector, where crude methods such as unprotected manual disassembly, stripping in acid bath, and open burning are applied to separate reusable components and to recover metals (Yu et al., 2010).

The role and influence of the informal sector in e-waste management has been controversial. On the one hand, informal recycling has been criticized for its severe environmental and biological consequences. Studies in Guiyu and Taizhou, two prominent informal e-waste recycling areas in China, found out high concentration of heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) in soil (Cai and Jiang, 2006, Shen et al., 2009, Li et al., 2011), air (Deng et al., 2007, Xing et al., 2011), and water (Wu et al., 2008), and reported elevated body burden of PCBs, PBDEs and dioxin in local population (Chan et al., 2007, Zhao et al., 2010). On the other hand, informal collection and dismantling of e-waste creates many job opportunities for low-income groups in less developed countries (Wath et al., 2010, Oliveira et al., 2012). In China, about 98% of the 700,000 people working in the e-waste recycling industry are employed by the informal sector (Duan and Eugster, 2007). Recently, it has been argued that the potential contribution of the informal sector in raising the collection rates of e-waste and in improving dismantling efficiency should be recognized (Chi, 2012, Wang et al., 2012).

The route through which e-waste is collected and treated varies from countries to countries (Ongondo et al., 2011). Experiences in developed countries show that collection systems play a crucial role in the controlling of e-waste flows. Collective producer responsibility (CPR) and individual producer responsibility (IPR) are the two major alternatives in e-waste collection systems (Tojo, 2003). The question of whether collective or individual producer responsibility is more effective has been debated for years without resolution (Raymond, 2002, Lindhqvist and Lifset, 2003). Most existing European collection systems adopt the CPR for the purpose of achieving greater financial economies of scale (Fredholm et al., 2008). Nowadays producer and municipality collection models are widely adopted in developed nations such as Switzerland, Germany, United States and Japan (Kang and Schoenung, 2005). The current collection and recycling of e-waste in the European Union are mainly handled by producer responsibility organizations (PROs) and other bodies (Mayers and Butler, 2013). PROs organize and finance approximately 30% of e-waste collection and recycling, with the remaining 70% contributed mainly by local actors that recycle e-waste independently (Witteveen and Bos, 2008).

However, for many less developed countries such as India and South Africa e-waste collection is to various extents dependent on the informal sectors (Streicher-Porte et al., 2005, Ongondo et al., 2011). In China the informal sector dominates the collection of household e-wastes. Nearly 60% of the domestically generated e-waste is passed into informal recycling processes, which has been argued as the major reason for the extensive supply deficiency in the formal recycling sector (Yang et al., 2008, Chi et al., 2011). Handling of e-waste in China is typified by high rate of repair and reuse, and there is a common acceptance of e-waste as a tradable commodity. More than 90% of Chinese citizens are reluctant to pay for the recycling fee (Liu et al., 2006a). Most collected e-wastes are either being sold to less developed regions after simple maintenance, or being dismantled and treated in unqualified workshops to recover components and materials (He et al., 2006). Therefore, China cannot fully duplicate the European e-waste system due to the characteristics of e-waste flow, the availability of cheap labour, and its current recycling practices. How to divert more e-waste from the informal to the formal sector and how to formalize the informal sector through regulations and standards thus becomes a key issue.

Understanding the efficiency of existent collection channels (especially the informal collection sector) and household recycling preferences is a precondition of successful design of China's e-waste collection system, but so far research in this area is limited. A small amount of literature described the generation and flows of e-waste in Beijing (Liu et al., 2006b, Yang et al., 2008). Some case studies on residential attitudes and behaviors in e-waste recycling were taken in Beijing by Wang et al. (2011), in Taizhou by Streicher-Porte and Geering (2010), and in Xian by Veenstra et al. (2010), which all concluded that selling to informal peddlers is the most populous option. However, most studies only focused on five appliances (i.e. televisions (TVs), refrigerators, washing machines, personal computers, and air-conditioners), while data about the obsolescence rates and disposal methods of other electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) commonly found in Chinese households is missing. Besides, in addition to peddlers, there are several covert informal collectors such as home appliance repair shops whose collections largely end up in the informal sector. Information about the collection rates of different informal collectors is important but lacking.

This study intends to explore the collection channels for urban e-waste and to analyse household recycling behaviors using Taizhou city as a case study. To fill in the aforementioned gaps, we included eighteen types of e-waste and specified five different informal collectors in our investigation. In this paper, we first introduced the overall situation of the recycling system in Taizhou in Section 2 and explained the survey method in Section 3. We then presented our survey data about the generation and collection situation of household e-waste in Section 4. Based on detailed analysis, we illustrated the distribution of six disposal options and pointed out the key determinants of disposal strategies. Finally we concluded the comparative advantages of the informal collection sector and suggested an integrated e-waste collection system in China.

Section snippets

Overview of E-waste recycling system in Taizhou

Taizhou is a medium-sized city in China, located at the central coastal section of Zhejiang Province (see Fig. 1). By the end of 2010, Taizhou had a total population of 5.83 million, around 1.2 million of which were migrant residents from other provinces (Taizhou Statistical Yearbook, 2011). Its e-waste recycling industry was established in the early 1990s and it becomes one of the largest waste recycling centres in China. The e-waste industry employs around 40,000 people, and it has over 2.2

Methods of survey

Data for this paper comes from several sources. Besides authors' interviews, field observations and secondary data including local statistical yearbooks and reports, the major data source was obtained through household survey. The survey questionnaire used multiple-choice questions and short answers, and was structured into four main parts: (1) demographic information; (2) ownership and obsolescence rate of EEE; (3) e-waste disposal behavior; and (4) preference of recycling options. The first

Household ownership of EEE and generation of WEEE

Table 1 contains two parts of information: (i) the possession and condition of EEE at the time of purchase; (ii) the amount and service life of disposed WEEE. The possession of cell phones (3.0/household), electric fans (2.1/household), TVs (2.0/household) and air-conditioners (1.7/household) was highest. Meanwhile, digital camcorders (0.1/household) and printers (0.3/household) were least found in the surveyed households. The majority (98.9%) of all appliances in use were new products at the

Conclusion

Collection is a crucial stage to aggregate and divert the e-waste streams to the desirable treatment facilities. A reliable, safe and efficient collection system will motivate recycling activities and reduce costs. In examining the household preference for e-waste recycling alternatives, our survey found out that the informal sector still takes the leading role in collecting urban household e-wastes. A significant proportion of the e-wastes were stored at home, given to others, or discarded,

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Melbourne International Fee Remission Scholarships (MIFRS) by the University of Melbourne, Australia. The authors would like to thank the teachers at Taizhou No. 1 High School and the survey participants for their valuable time and efforts. The authors also want to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions.

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