China Tianjin publishes “WEEE treatment development plan” (draft)

On August 10, 2021, Tianjin Ecology and Environment Bureau of China published the draft on “Waste electrical and electronic equipment treatment development plan” and started to solicit opinions from the society. The deadline for soliciting opinions is August 16, 2021. The amount of waste electrical and electronic equipment generated in Tianjin is increasing year by year, and it is expected to reach 2,596,900 units (total weight 74,000 tons) of 5 types of waste electrical and electronic equipment (TV sets, refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, and computers) in 2025 (9 million units for the recent 3 years). In response to this situation, the Plan calls for the expansion and development of collection sites in Tianjin, expansion of the types of waste electrical and electronic equipment to be collected, and improvement of treatment capacity. The following is a summary of the Plan.

 

Targets to be achieved by 2025

The plan set the target for Tianjin’s “Waste electrical and electronic equipment treatment development plan” as shown in the table below.

Contents target
Disassembly and treatment rate in 2025 90%
Reuse rate of disassembly products 95%
Increase in the number of disassembly equipment compared to 2020 4.6 million units
Percentage increase in collection sites compared to 2020 15%

 

Issues in the Plan

  • Promote low-carbon and cleaner production in disassembly enterprises
  • Construction and management in accordance with the regulations of the collection and processing enterprise
  • Improvement of disassembly technology of enterprises
  • Reuse and safe treatment of disassembly products
  • Strengthen management and supervision of disassembly enterprises
  • Establishment of an information-based management and supervision system
  • Strengthen construction of collection sites
  • Stepwise expansion of the types of WEEE to be collected and treated

The type of WEEE to be added are as follows:

      1. Landline phone
      2. mobile phone
      3. electric cooker
      4. microwave
      5. printer
      6. copy machine

 

According to the Plan, Tianjin is expected to formulate detailed regulations for the specific task implementation by the end of 2021. It also plans to expand domestic and foreign loans and technical assistance and strengthen support from the central government’s financial funds and special funds.

 

The original text of the above plan can be viewed at the following URL (in simplified Chinese)
http://sthj.tj.gov.cn/YWGZ7406/HJGL7886/GTFWGL6110/202108/t20210810_5529468.html

Author / Responsibility

AOKI Kenji

Senior Consultant, EnviX Ltd.
General Director, E&H Consulting Co., Ltd.

Business Performance

Expertise in EHS (environment, health and safety) consulting in ASEAN region.
- Environmental regulations updating
- Chemical regulations consulting

Background

MSc in Earth Science, The University of Tokyo

AOKI Kenji