An Agenda to Move Forward E-waste Recycling and Challenges in China

Xuefeng Wen1, Jinhui Li1, LIU Hao1, Fengfu Yin1,2, Lixiao Hu1, Heping Liu1,Zhenyu Liu2
(1 Department of Environmental Science & Engineering, Tsinghua University Beijing 100084, China) (2 R&D department, Haier Group, Qingdao 266101, China) wenxuefeng@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn
Abstract E-waste problem is a worldwide conundrum. China, as an important production, consumption and export country of electrical and electronic equipments face great pressure on E-waste recycling. This paper introduced the current situations of E-waste and reviewed various technologies and different scale facilities of E-waste recycling existed in China. The challenges for government, original equipment manufacturers and recyclers were analyzed based on the situations of China and the global. At last corresponding countermeasures which have been and will be implemented are presented to promote environmentally sound management of E-waste recycling of China. Key Words- E-waste, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment, Recycling, Environmentally Sound Management

million[3]. Table 1 is the possession amount of household appliances and PCs per 100 inhabitants in China. The data of table 1 indicate that the possession amount of color TVs, household refrigerates, washing machines escalate steadily and the possession amount of air conditioners and PCs still have great potential to increase in the coming future. Table 1 Number of Major Household Appliances and PCs Owned per 100 Urban Households in China
Main household appliances and PCs (Unit) Color RefrigerAirWashers TVs ators conditions 1985 17.21 6.58 48.29 1993 79.46 56.68 86.36 1994 86.21 62.10 87.29 1995 89.79 66.22 88.97 1996 93.50 69.67 90.06 1997 100.48 72.98 89.13 16.29 1999 111.57 77.74 91.44 24.48 2000 116.60 80.10 90.50 30.8 0 2001 120.80 82.60 92.70 35.70 2002 126.40 87.38 92.90 51.10 2003 130.50 88.73 94.41 61.79 2004 133.40 90.20 95.90 69.80 2005* 133.60 90.50 95.10 80.00 Note :1) The statistics data of 2005 is up to the end of September, 2005. 2) All the data came from China Statistical Yearbook.

Year

PCs
5.90 9.40 13.00 20.60 27.81 33.10 39.60

I. INTRODUCTION Nowadays China is not only one of most important production and machining countries of Electrical and Electronic Equipments (EEE), but also is a great consumer country of EEE as the rapid and steady-going development of economy in the past years. When EEE reach the end-of-life, how to dispose E-waste is an embarrassed problem for Chinese government. This paper will introduce the growth situations of E-waste amount, E-waste flow and various technologies and different scale facilities, analysis current challenges for the government, Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and recyclers and bring forward relevant proposes around environmentally sound management of E-waste recycling of China. II. CURRENT SITUATIONS OF E-WASTE RECYCLING IN
CHINA

A. Growth of E-waste Amount Chinas economy has been among the fastest growing economies of the world ever since the gradual introduction of market-style reforms in the late 1970s. Having become the workshop of the world, Chinas aggressive growth is due to its export-driven manufacturing and industrial sectors which make up 50% of the economy. For example, As of 2004, China has become the biggest exporter of ICT goods (USD 180 billion), surpassing Japan and the European Union in 2003 and taking the lead over the United States in 2004 [1]. The Suzhou industrial area alone is responsible for 61%,40%,40%,33%,25%,20%,8% of the worlds computer mouse manufacturing, the small LCDs, PC-Cameras, crystal units, colour LCDs, scanners and motherboards [2]. According to statistics from National Bureau of Statistics of China, now in China the possession of TV is about 350 million, refrigerators 130 million, washing machines 170 million, computers 20 million and mobile telephones 190

Generally, E-waste are taken to mean all arisings of electrical and electronic equipments and parts including household appliances, electronic entertainment equipment, office, information and communications, cash processing equipment, electric tools, measuring and control instruments, lighting, toys, clocks and watches, laboratory and medical equipment, visual recording and receiving equipment, etc., containing electrical or electronic components. In China, the E-waste mainly came from the following sources: 1) The manufacturing and production process. As mentioned above, China now is becoming the worlds factory. Huge amount of household appliances , IT products and relevant accessories are manufactured in China. OEMs generate E-waste when units coming off the production line dont meet quality standards, and must be disposed of. As a result, a given percent of E-waste will generated during those process. 2) The end of life of household appliances and IT products. Every household appliance and PC has its own life-span. When they get their end of life, they will become E-waste. Since 2003, it is estimated that every year mainland China generated over 5 million waste TVs, 4 million waste refrigerators, 5 million waste washing machines, 5 million waste computers and 10 million waste mobile telephones. The

1-4244-0351-0/06/$20.00 2006 IEEE.

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amount of WEEE generated in China is around 1.11 million tons pea a year, and accounts for 1% of total garbage output every year [4]. In the coming future, the amount of E-waste will continue to increase. The prediction amounts of annual obsolescence of household appliances and PCs in China in the coming 10 years are shown in table 2 based on the Gompertz model and given life span of every EEE[5]. Table 2 Prediction of Annual Obsolescence of Household Appliances and PCs in China
Amount of Obsolescence by year (10 000 units) Color RefrigerAirWashers PCs TVs ators conditions 2006 2041.25 578.01 1048.14 676.43 1376.40 2007 2324.63 727.45 903.76 771.19 3079.10 2008 3088.52 869.56 1022.98 923.68 3177.35 2009 3718.75 924.22 1187.42 1089.14 4782.64 2010 5833.94 966.81 1158.85 1235.02 7190.08 2011 3251.85 973.45 1280.54 3668.45 10796.10 2012 3917.88 1086.99 2530.44 2524.40 16190.75 2013 4041.73 2094.18 1374.37 3875.04 24251.37 2014 4251.48 1242.00 1673.12 2992.61 90491.88 2015 4449.13 1714.78 1519.46 3250.11 80904.88 Note: Assuming the life span for color TV is 10 years, refrigerators 13 years, washing machines 12 years, air conditioners 12years, PCs 4 years.

economic gap exists between urban inhabitants and rural inhabitants ,especially between rural inhabitants in 12 western provinces and urban inhabitants. The current situation of China determines that second hand electronic products will have tremendous market.

Year

Figure 1. E-waste flow in China The rest 60% WEEE pool is regarded as E-waste and treated to recover valuable parts or components by manual disassembly or various recycling technologies. Table 3 Number of Household Appliances Owned per 100 Rural Households of National and 12 Western Provinces (Autonomous Regions, Municipality) at the Year-end (2002)
Region
Urban inhabitants

3) Import or smuggle from aboard The amount of WEEE coming from aboard is very huge. This situation is different from developed countries. Although most countries of the world have signed the treaty of Basel Convention on the Control of the Trans-boundary Movements of Hazardous Waste and their Disposal, great economic benefits drive stakeholders to trans-boundary movements of huge amount of e-waste from developed counties to developing countries like China. By this measures, developed countries can escape from the censure of local inhabitants, save lots of treatment costs and labor fees and alleviate the environment burdens of own regions. Informed recycling industry sources estimate that between 50% to 80% of the E-waste collected for recycling in the western U.S. are not recycled domestically, but are very quickly placed on container ships bound for destinations like China[6]. Coastlands of south east China are the main importing ports and recycling areas of E-waste such as Tianjin, Ningbo, Taizhou, Wenzhou,Chaozhou ,etc. Among of them, Guiyu area in Chaozhou region of China is one of typical example. Only in Guiyu, the enterprises amounts engaging in E-waste disassembly and recycling are more than 300, and more than 1 million tons E-waste mainly coming from abroad are treated every year[7]. B. E-wast Flow in China Figure 1 is the E-waste flow in China[7]. WEEE pool mainly came from peddler collected from home and were imported and smuggled from aboard. A very interesting phenomenon is that most WEEE (around 70%) generated in China is stored temporarily at home or office. The main reasons are: For most family owners, WEEE is regarded as valued products and deserved to be stored. For state-owners, WEEE belongs to capital asserts and can not be disposed at will. About 40% of WEEE pool is resold as second-hand products to poor region or countryside after repairing and refurbishing. The economic development imbalances among different districts and cities promote second hand market prosperity. The number of household appliances owned per 100 rural households shown in table 3 indicates that great

Color TVs
126.38

Refrigerators
87.38

Washer
92.9

Aircondition
51.1

Mobile Phones
62.89

Rural inhabitants 60.45 14.83 31.8 2.29 13.67 Rural inhabitants in 12 47.98 6.08 21.07 0.15 6.27 western provinces* Note: 1)SourceChina Statistical Yearbook.; 2)12 western provinces refer to 12 relatively undeveloped provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) in western China.

C. Situations o f Recycling Facilities for the Treatment of E-waste in China Now there are main 3 difference scale recycling facilities existed in China for the treatment of E-waste. 1) Small scale facilities for E-waste recycling At the beginning of E-waste recycling in China, most of business operated at a fairly small scale. Lacking of supervision of local authorities, environmental standards and advanced recycling technologies, most of workshops adopted very simple and uncultured methods to operate in order to achieve higher return as much as possible. Most of the activity involved physical dismantling by hammer, chisel, screw driver and bare hand to recover metals, plastic, de-soldering circuit boards over a coal-fired grill. In the interest of recyclers, chemical methods without any environmental protection were often used such as open burning the wires to recover copper, chemical stripping using acid to recover metals from circuit boards or chips, and so on. As a result, a series of problems occurred, such as environmental pollution, serious occupational impacts to the operators and willful waste of resources. Indeed those situations have been changed greatly in

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recent 2-3 years. Local authorities have taken some effective methods to ban a series of operations which will cause possible heavy pollution to the environment. Although some small scale recycling facilities still exist, their surviving spaces become worse and worse. 2) Middle scale facilities for E-waste recycling The characteristics of middle scale enterprises are: (1) Purchase necessary facilities to disassemble, recycle and recover. (2) Specially focus on one or several kinds of E-waste. (3) Relatively lower investment, higher return. (3) Maybe cause second pollution during the recycling process. In China the middle scale facilities mainly focus on Region
Beijing

waste circuit boards disassembly and recycling, waste plastics regeneration process and so on. 3) Large scale facilities for E-waste recycling In recent 3-5 years, lots of enterprises from home and aboard show great interests on this field. Table 4 lists main advanced recycling plants of E-waste in China. The main characteristics of those recycling plants are: (1) Most of them locate in littoral and municipal cities. (2) Enterprises engaging in recycling of waste printed circuit boards, ICs run in good condition. (3) Enterprises engaging in recycling of whole E-waste (household appliances and IT products) are nearly under construction (except Taiwan region), although some of them have gained funds support from government. Operation Status
Under operation
Under construction

Number
2

Table 4 Main Advanced Recycling Plants of E-waste in China Typical Corp. Note
Beijing Jinyu Group.
Huaxin Group.

Engage in Collection,disassembly and recycling of E-waste

1)Supported by Beijing government . 2)Engage in recycling of waste household appliances and IT products 1)Invest 0.1 billion RMB. 2)Engage in (Precious) metals recovery from waste printed circuit boards. Engage in recycling of waste TVs, refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, PCs. 1) Buy the whole set of PHILPS equipment. 2) Engage in the recycling and reproduction of glass bulbs of CRTs, such as panels, funnels, neck tubes and metal accessory etc. 1)Invested by Fortune group, USA 2)Engage in wire & cable recycling, plastics recycling and waste printed circuit boards recycling and so on. 1) Invested by Taiwan MAY-CHIA Metal Company Ltd. 2) Engage in pretreatment of waste ICs, printed circuit boards. After mixture and sampling, the E-waste will be sent to metallurgical plant, Canada. 1)Invested by Dowa Mining Co., Ltd and Suzhou New District Economic Development Group 2) Engage in (precious) metals recovery from waste printed circuit boards and ICs. 1) Invested by TES Envirocorp (Holding) Pte Ltd, Singapore. 2) Engage in recycling of E-waste ,especially waste printed circuit boards . 1) Invested by Loyalty Enterprises Group. 2) Engages in reclamation and disposal of waste PCs. 1) Supported by central and Zhejiang government. 2) Engage in recycling of waste TVs, refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, PCs, printed circuit boards. 1) Invested by Loyalty Enterprises Group. 2) Engages in reclamation and disposal of household appliance and office electronic equipment in full line waste and used TV, computer, refrigerator, A/C, washing machine, and other E-waste. 1) Authorized by Guangdong environment protection bureau. 2) Establish 7 disassembly and treatment centers of E-waste (Guangzhou Foshan Shenzhen Zhuhai Zhanjiang Qingyuan Shantou) and 1 recycling center of hazardous waste (Huizhou) 1) 2 recycling plants located in Taipei, 2 in Taichung, 2 in Tainan 2) Engage in disassembly, treatment and recycling of waste TVs, refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners.

Tianjin
Tsingtao

1
1

Taiwan Jinyiding Co.,Ltd .

Tsingtao New World Eco-recycling Science & Tech. Co.,Ltd.
Nanjing Kaiyan Electronic Co.,Ltd.

Under construction
Under construction Under operation (Beginning from 1995)
Under operation

Nanjing

2 Nanjing Jinze Metal Materials Co.,Ltd.

Suzhou TMC Metal Company Ltd.

Suzhou >2 Suzhou Dowa Co.,Ltd. Resource reutilization

Under operation

Under operation
Under operation

AMM China Co., Ltd.

Shanghai

2 Loyalty Electronic Wastes Recycling Co., Ltd .(Shanghai). Resource

Under construction

Hangzhou

Hangzhou Dadi Envrionmental Protection Co.,Ltd.

Under construction

Chengdu

Loyalty Electronic Wastes Recycling Co., Ltd (Chengdu).

Resource

Under construction
Under construction (From 2004 to 2010)
Under operation (beginning from 1999)

Guangdong

Integrated treatment center of E-waste.

E&E Recycling, Inc. Shulin . E&E Recycling, Inc. (Yangmei). FGD Recycling Industrial Co.,Ltd. An Shun Enterprise Co., Ltd. Perfect Recycling Co., Ltd. Hong Chin Recycling Enterprise Corp.

Taiwan

317

D. Situations of Recycling Technologies for the treatment of E-waste in China In order to resolve the environmental problems during E-waste recycling and achieve sustainable development and circular economy, central and local authorities have adopted a series measures to encourage large-scale enterprises to enter into the recycling filed of E-waste. At the same time, lots of universities, research organizations and enterprises have carried out experimental researches for the recycling of E-waste such as Tsinghua University, China University of Mining & Technology, Hefei University of Technology, China Household Electric Appliance Research Institute, Haier Group, etc. A series of recycling technologies and process have been invented and applied successfully for E-waste recycling. 1) Disassembly technologies of E-waste At the very beginning, the disassembly methods of E-waste are very simple, relevant tools and facilities are also very crude and necessary protection measures for operators and environment have not been taken into account. For example, in the past operators de-solder waste printed circuit boards over a coal-fired grill to recover all kinds of components fixed on them. Now those situations have been improved greatly. Figure 2 depicts the relatively elaborate recovery method to separate components from circuit boards. The components are heated using electronic blower and then separated by dint of pliers. Different types of components are put into corresponding cups. Although automatic disassembly facilities of waste printed circuit boards have been developed in China, disassembly by hand can achieve much precious separation, higher disassembly rate and better recovery rate of second hand components comparing automatic disassembly. Besides this, flexible and simple compressor disassembly tools also have been invented and used widely (See figure 3). Comparing shredding methods adopted in developed countries, this disassembly method is much cheaper and flexible and can achieve higher separation efficiency and save more energy.

Figure 3. Compressor Disassembly Tool 2) Recycling technologies of waste printed circuit boards No one shows more interests than waste printed circuit boards in the recycling field of E-waste. Waste printed circuit boards are made of wiring boards and all kinds of components such as capacitors, resistance, ICs and so on. Through elaborate disassembly of waste printed circuit boards, quit a bit components can be reused. Most important, printed circuit boards contain plastics, refractory oxides and many kinds of metals, such as ferrous metals, base metals, noble metals and rare metals. Many methods have been developed to recycle waste printed circuit boards, such as physical methods, chemical methods and biological methods [8-12]. In the practice, for small and middle scale enterprises, physical processes such as wet shredding+ water table separation, dry shredding +electrostatic/air table separation, show great potential and advantages in terms of lower investment, operation cost and environment friendness[14]. So they have been adopted widely to achieve primary recovery of metals concentrators which will be refined further in metallurgical factory. Hydrometallurgical and pyrometallurgical methods are preferred for middle and large scale enterprises because they can refine high value products such as noble metals and rare metals. Figure 4 depicts advanced hydrometallurgical process to recover precious metals from printed circuit boards[15]. In the laboratory, cryogenic comminution technologies, supercritical fluid treatment technologies and pyrolysis technologies also have been experimented for the recycling of waste printed circuit boards [16-17].

Figure 2. Heating Circuit Boards Using Electronic Blower to Recover Components Generally speaking, cheaper labors also promote that disassembly by hand will exists in a long-term in China. The disassembly industry of E-waste has achieved quiet great development in China. The level of elaborate disassembly and recovery rate of second hand components of China is in the leading position of the world.

Figure 4. Advanced Hydrometallurgical Process to Recover Precious Metals from Printed Circuit Boards

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3) Recycling Technologies for waste CRTs CRT is one of the most component of traditional computer monitor or television. It is estimated that approximately 50% of the weight of a computer monitor is composed of CRT glass [18]. There are two technologies currently available for CRT recycling in China: CRT-to-CRT, Glass-to-Glass recycling. (1) CRT-to-CRT Recycling CRT-CRT recycling is a closed loop recycling process. The waste CRTs are separated into panel glass and funnel glass by dissolving the connection (sintered) glass using certain acid. After cleaning and inspection, the panel glass and funnel glass can be jointed together to rebuild a new CRT. Statistics data show that every year around 6 million waste CRTs which is up to 1/6 of total color CRTs consumption are used to build new CRTs [19]. However, this method has caused great impact to the normal CRT market and also existed possible quality flaws and was banned by general administration of quality supervision, inspection and quarantine of the peoples republic of China from Nov. 1, 2005[20]. (2) Glass-to-Glass Many technologies for separating the leaded funnel glass from the non-leaded panel glass has also been explored such as hot wire, electric saw,etc. From the technical view, it is feasible. While in the practice, the demand amount for the broken lead glass and non-lead glass is very limited. Besides CRT-to-CRT, Glass-to-Glass recycling, Glass-to-lead also is feasible from technological view, however there have not relevant reports in practice in China.
CHALLENGES FOR THE III. CURRENT ENVIRONMENTALLY SOUND MANAGEMENT (ESM) OF E-WASTE RECYCLING IN CHINA

refurbished; Lots of electronic parts and components such as IC, resistance and capacitance can be reused as the second-hand products after disassembly; the residual e-waste which can not be reused anymore is to recover useful materials by physical and chemical methods. Comparing other second resources, e-waste has much higher potential values. If China government bans import of E-waste in a long term, we will lose scarce resources and many job positions. B. Challenges for OEMs 1) Contradiction between implementation of WEEE directive, RoHS directive and technology innovation speed. For most of OEMs especially which have foreign trade, WEEE directive and RoHS directive will bring all-important influences. For China, about 1/4 electric and electronic products export to EU. The advantages of implementation of WEEE directive and RoHS directive are: Enhance technology innovation. Promote green design. Protect environment. Achieve sustainable development. The disadvantages of implementation of WEEE directive and RoHS directive are: Increase research & development costs. Increase operation cost more than 20%. Result in technical barriers to trade and decrease output amount. Uncertainty to the substitutes. 2) Contradiction between Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and enterprise profits. The implementation of EPR also has brought a series of problems and challenges for OEM. The advantages of implementation of EPR are: Enhance economic and social responsibility. Advance eco-design of electronic products. Facilitate recycling of e-waste. Accelerate ESM of e-waste. Raise cooperate identify and status in the global. The disadvantages of implementation of EPR are: Increase research & development costs. Increase recycling cost after their electronic products reach end-of-life. C. Challenges for the Recyclers Following reasons are the main challenges for recycling enterprises of e-waste: 1) Need to pay take-back costs. For developed countries, consumers usually pay some recycling cost when they dispose of electric household appliance or they buy one. The situation is different in China. For most Chinese inhabitants, investment of electronic products occupies relatively higher proportion in a family. So after electronic products reached end-of-life, the consumers would like to store at home or sell them instead of paying money for the recyclers. This reflects the real situation of most developing countries. The take-back costs will increase the operation fee for the recyclers. 2) Shortage of high effective and reasonable take-back systems. High-effective and reasonable take-back systems of e-waste can ensure economy of scale, save logistics costs. Indeed most of WEEE is collected by door-in-door collectors in China. Unfair competition between standardization recycling enterprises and simple recyclers without necessary environmental protection facilities led to the latter can provide

A. Challenges for Government The challenges of Chinese government on the ESM of E-waste mainly include: 1) Contradiction between the increase of e-waste amount and second environment pollution during recycling. Although the percent of second hand electronic products and components is very higher comparing developed countries, the amount of e-waste will still increase in the coming future. As mentioned before, small and middle scale recycling facilities care little about environmental protection in order to achieve high economical benefits. Toxic dumping pours pollution into the land, air and water and exposes the men, women and children of poorer peoples to poison. The health and economic costs of this trade are vast due to second environment pollution during recycling E-waste. Its a great challenge for China government to lead those recycling enterprises to achieve resources recovery and prevent possible pollutions. 2) Contradiction between ban of e-waste import and demand to the second resources. Because of heavy second pollution during recycling of e-waste, import of secondhand home appliance, e-waste and crushed e-waste is prohibited in 1998, 2000 and 2002 respectively by state environment protection administration of China. Indeed, the raw material resources required to feed this growth are enormous, giving rise to a thriving market for secondary raw materials to meet the growing demand. In China, resources possession per person is only 58% of the average of the world. E-waste contains potential useful parts, components and materials. Some WEEE can be reused and resold as second-hand products after being repaired and

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higher take-back fees to the door-in-door collectors. As a result, the standardization recycling enterprises have little chance to collect enough e-waste from consumers. So this situation depressed the enthusiasm of standardization recycling enterprises to some extent. 3) Shortage of policy backup and finance subsidy For the large scale recycling enterprises of E-waste, some advanced recycling and environmental protection facilities are usually imported from developed counties (Such as disassembly and shredding line of waste refrigerators). So the investment and operation coasts are very high. Without effective take-back systems, necessary policy backup and finance subsidy, its impossible to run successfully. This situation will frustrate enthusiasm of investors. This also is the main reason why the progress of large recycling enterprises is very slower and lots of them are under construction. Some enterprises are wait-and-see according the development of take-back system and policies of e-waste. IV. A. COUNTERMEASURES FOR ENVIRONMENTALLY SOUND MANAGEMENT OF E-WASTE IN CHINA

support from the Hi-tech Research and Development Program of China. (Project No. 2002AA644020). REFERENCES [1] OECD finds that China is biggest exporter of Information Technology Goods in 2004, surpassing US and EU [R].http://www.oecd.org/document/8/0,2340,en_2649_201185_35833096_1_ 1_1_1,00.html. [2] SUN Xun, Jiadong Yu, ZHU Ye, et al. the worlds factory for IT grown up in the world paradise[R]. Xinhua Daily, Oct. 11, 2002.(In Chinese) [3]Zuo Tieyong.Considering on the circular economy[R]. China Environment Daily, Jan. 9,2006 (In Chinese). [4] SEPA estimated: the amount of e-waste is about 1.11 million tons per year[R]. http://env.people.com.cn/GB/1072/3720151.html [5] Li J H, Wen X F,Liu T Z,et al. Management policies, technologies and facilities for the treatment of waste electrical and electronic equipments in China[J].Science and Technology of Household Electric Appliance,2005,(1):3134.(In Chinese) [6] The Basel Action Network, Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition.Exporting harm: The high-tech trashing of Asia[R]. Feb. 25,2002. http://www.ban.org/E-waste/technotrashfinalcomp.pdf . [7] Li J H, LIU Hao. Investigation on the importing and environmentally sound management of E-waste in China[R].Oct., 2005. [8] Chai Xiaolan. Study on recycling metals from electronic scrap by electrostatic separation method. [Master thesis]. Xuzhou: China University of Mining & Technology,2004. (In Chinese) [9] Duan Chenlong. The fundamental study on the reutilization of electronic scrap by pulse air classifiers. [Master thesis]. Xuzhou: China University of Mining & Technology,2004. (In Chinese) [10] Chuihong Zhou. The study on recycling discarded printed circuit board by mechanical technolog. .[Ph.D. dissertation]. Beijing: China University of Mining & Technology,2003. (In Chinese) [11] Wen X F. Study on metals recovery from discarded printed circuit boards by physical methods.[Ph.D. dissertation]. Xuzhou: China University of Mining & Technology,2004. (In Chinese) [12] Mou peng, Wa layiding, Xiang dong, et al. A physical process for recycling and reusing waste printed circuit boards[A]. Proceedings of the 2004 IEEE International Symposium on Electronics and the Environment, May 10-13 2004, Scottsdale, AZ, United States, p 237-242. [13] Wen Xuefeng,Li Jinhui, Zhu Xuemei,et al. Reutilization status of waste printed circuit boards and corresponding countermeasures in China[J].Mining & Metallurgy,2005,14(1):77-80.(In Chinese). [14] Wen Xuefeng,Li Jinhui, Zhu Fenfen, et al. Review of the physical treatment of waste printed wiring boards in China[J].Mining & Metallurgy,2005,14(3):58-63. (In Chinese). [15]Complete plant waste electric appliances recycling equipment[R]. http://www.paiying.com/hbzyzs_fdl.htm [16] ZOU Liang. Study on cryogenic comminution technology of discarded printed wiring boards [Master thesis]. Beijing: Tsinghu University, 2005. (In Chinese) [17]Sun Lushi. Experimental study on the pyrolysis characteristics and resource recycling of the products of printed circuit board scrap.[Ph.D. dissertation]. Wuhan: Huazhong University of Science & Technology,2004. (In Chinese) [18] WU Ting. Study on technique for separating and cleaning of bulb of waste CRT display. [Master thesis]. Beijing: Tsinghu University, 2004. (In Chinese) [19]Li Shaolin.6 millon rebuilded CRTs are banned and color CRT manufactures will resuscitate[R]. http://www.stockstar.com/info2005/darticle.asp?ID=QJ,20051012,10080109&columnid=20. Oct. 12, 2005. [20] http://www.legaldaily.com.cn/misc/2005-11/01/content_213627.htm. [21] http://www.mii.gov.cn/art/2006/03/03/art_722_7441.htm.

Drafting Relevant Policies and Ordinances In order to promote E-waste recycling, central authorities have drafted relevant policies and ordinances. National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has already drafted the Administration Ordinance on the Recycling and Treatment of Discarded Home Appliance and Electronic products. NDRC also selected Tsingtao city, Zhejiang province, Beijing city ,Tianjing city as pilot points to establish and explore advanced recycling facilities and technologies of E-waste recycling. State Environmental Protection Administration has drafted Technology Policy of the Prevention and Control of E-waste pollution in the Environment and related guidelines and will be issued in this year. At the same time, In order to reply WEEE directive, RoHS directive, Ministry of information industry of the peoples republic of China has proposed Management Measures for the Prevention and Control of Information Products Pollution which have been issued in Feb.,28,2006 and will be enacted in Mar. 1, 2007[21]. After implementation, they will provide necessary policy and fund support for the ESM of E-waste. B. Research & Development of E-waste recycling technologies and green maufacutring Although lots of practical and advanced technologies and facilities which have own intellectual properties have been used widely in the field of E-waste recycling, there still have many key technologies and equipments dependent on import from developed countries. China will continue to enhance innovative research and technology transformation. At the same time, green design theory, methodology and its key technology were developed in manufacturing industry field including disassembly and recycling of WEEE in China, based on the product Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) technology and design for disassembly/recycling technology. Relevant research and practice will provide theoretical and technological support for the sustainable development of e-waste recycling. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors would like to acknowledge the financial

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