China creates e-waste fund

By Editorial Staff, Resource Recycling

In China, producers and importers of electrical and electronic equipment will have to pay into a new fund meant to subsidize the cost of handling scrap electronics, reports Clean Biz Asia. Handled by the Ministry of Finance and five other government departments, the fund will be used toward environmental protection.

According to the news website, subsidies will be offered for the "responsible recycling" of e-scrap as part of the initiative. However, the website casts doubt on how effective this new measure will be for a country that has been on the receiving end of much of the world's end-of-life electronics:

"The country is, however, the final destination of around 70 percent of the world's annual 500 million tons of e-waste, which is smuggled through the country main ports. While any attempt at creating a more circular economy is a step forward, it is hard to see how China's new e-waste fund is going to improve that particular problem."

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