E-waste management in China: bridging the formal and informal sectors

The global production and demand of electronic appliances is exponentially growing, increasingly depleting natural resources. This is resulting in increasing amounts of electronic waste (e-waste), which is a challenge for resource management, as e-waste holds valuable resources that can be channeled back into the electronics production cycle. China, as one of the world’s main recipients of e-waste, is facing a twofold burden. Increasing amounts of e-waste are generated domestically, and there is a continuous flow of illegally imported e-waste. E-waste entering China from abroad is handled entirely by the informal recycling sector, which also covers most of nationally generated e-waste. Recycling practices in the informal sector are predominantly at primitive levels, not only posing serious harm to the environment and public health, but also resulting in inefficient resource recovery results. This paper analyzes the structure of the informal e-waste sector in China and challenges that impede the effective integration of the informal into the formal system. It also identifies good practices that may be applied to address these challenges and establish a sustainable e-waste management system in the country, which will allow China to recover valuable resources from e-waste and mitigate harm to the environment and human health.