The "Disposal Electrical and Electronic Products Processing Fund" (referred to as "handling fund"), originally scheduled for implementation in March this year, has yet to be introduced. However, this has not hindered the speed of the marketization of recycling of used home appliances by Chinese and foreign companies.

A few days ago, a reporter from the China Enterprise News learned from people familiar with the matter that the disposal fund had been reported to the State Council in April and is expected to be officially launched in June and July. Previously, the first batch of five categories of waste household appliances catalogues developed by the National Development and Reform Commission had been announced earlier this year, and the Measures for the Administration of the Qualifications of Used Household Appliances Disposal by the Ministry of Environmental Protection were also promulgated at the end of last year, except that the Ministry of Finance was responsible for handling fund difficulties. .

According to the above-mentioned informed sources, the upcoming enactment of the fund will be based on a subsidized enterprise-based approach. Through the market-based mechanism, the processing companies will transfer the advantages of subsidies to the recycling sector. At the same time, conditions for production companies to apply for fund subsidies are also granted. Companies that recycle waste electrical and electronic equipment by themselves or entrust relevant agencies to apply for fund subsidies may apply. In addition, the use of environmentally-friendly materials for electrical and electronic products that are conducive to the comprehensive utilization of resources and harmless treatment and the use of environmentally friendly materials can be reduced.

Turning waste into a business opportunity

Faced with the difficult production of funds, Chinese and foreign companies have been accelerating the market-oriented operation of recycling of used household appliances. Recently, Panasonic announced the establishment of a joint venture in Hangzhou to focus on recycling of used appliances. Prior to this, TCL Aobo (Tianjin) Environmental Protection Development Co., Ltd. was formally completed and put into operation at Tianjin Jinghaizi Environmental Protection Industrial Park in the national circular economy demonstration park. Last year, Sichuan Changhong Gerun Renewable Resources Co., Ltd. was put into operation. In addition, home appliance companies such as Haier and Gree also involved in the competition of the waste household appliance recycling market.

Statistics from the National Development and Reform Commission show that the current social possessions of Chinese televisions, refrigerators, washing machines, and air conditioners have reached 350 million units, 130 million units, 170 million units, and 120 million units respectively. These household electrical appliances have entered the family since the mid-to-late 1980s. They are usually estimated to have a service life of 10 to 15 years. Since 2003, China has at least 5 million TV sets, 4 million refrigerators, and 5 million washing machines each year. To be scrapped, it is still a geometric increase.

At present, China has formed five major recycling and recycling households in Tianjin, Shandong, Zhejiang, Guangdong, and Jiangsu, among which the first phase of Tianjin's TCL project has reached 1 million units of old home appliance product processing capacity. Shandong’s Qingdao Xintiandi project has a The company has the ability to dispose of 1.8 million sets of used home appliances and collects 68,000 tons of usable materials such as copper, aluminum, stainless steel, plastics, and precious metal compounds. The automated waste dismantling project of Tonghe Waste and Old Appliances in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, unique technology of the wet-workshop enabled the recovery of precious metals to achieve recovery purity of 99.99%. The dry-workshop is the only company that can handle Freon.

Japanese companies complete the layout

Among the companies that have entered the recycling of disused household appliances, the non-ferrous metal giant, Tonghe Holding, has the most influence. At present, apart from the projects in Suzhou, it has also established relationships with Sumitomo Corporation, the top of Hangzhou, and Panasonic and the earth in Tianjin and Hangzhou respectively. The joint venture company participates in the recycling of used home appliances.

However, over a year after the implementation of the "renewal of old" policy for home appliances, businesses across the country who have been engaged in the recovery and dismantling of used home appliances have generally reacted. There are problems such as "difficult to recycle, low dismantling profits, and breakdown of the circulatory system" in waste household appliances. High air-conditioning and other products were directly robbed by the "collective and waste guerrillas." While CRT TVs dismantled high-cost, low-recovery products, no one would accept them and would like to dismantle them. More importantly, because the entire market system lacks a sound system and system to promote the recycling of used and end-of-life home appliances, it has directly caused the enterprises engaged in home appliance recycling to face the lack of “business model”.

The Secretary-General of the China National Association for Resources Comprehensive Utilization, the Secretary-General of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Engineering Committee, once told the “China Enterprise News” reporter: “On a global scale, enterprises engaged in the recycling of household appliances rely on policy subsidies for development.” However, the industry’s Duanmu Qing Yan pointed out: “Since the implementation of the replacement of home appliances, as of May 27th, a total of 52.962 million sets of five types of waste household appliances have been collected, and the dismantling enterprises have provided enough 'sources'. At the same time, technical areas, equipment, etc., need to be sent to Japan. Peer learning, with a huge market China's waste electrical appliance business prospects are very impressive."