Managing e-waste in China : the formal and informal sectors

Abstract EN

E-waste has grown exponentially around the world and is estimated to be growing at 3-5% per annum.

china faces a rapidly increasing amount of e-waste, both, from domestic generation and illegal imports.

this paper examines the management of e-waste by formal and informal sectors in china, by means of descriptive and analytic approaches.

the main results involve that china is the world's largest producer and importer of electrical and electronic devices, likewise china is the largest e-waste market.

furthermore, over 60% of e-waste produced in china is recycled informally.

however, about 40% of e-waste was focused on the formal system.

finally, the major challenge for china in e-waste management is how to provide incentives for formal recyclers to reduce informal recycling activities.