E-waste Issue

Description

According to new preliminary data released by IDC EMEA in 1Q2008, PC shipments in EMEA recorded robust 19% growth compared with the same quarter in the previous year. Another report by IDC implied that PC shipments in Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) in the fourth quarter of 2007 was around 18.1 million, which grew more than 20% from the same quarter one year ago.

China is the world's largest TV market, with 378million TV households by the end of 2007.Intex Management Services Ltd, a marker research company forecasted that the number of European homes receiving digital TV would grow to 108 million in 2009. Nielson’s study on United States showed that the total number of television households within the US (including Alaska and Hawaii) would be 112.8 million by January 1, 2008.

A report in 2006 implied that over 90 percent of South Korean, Japanese and urban Chinese households own at least one mobile phone, while in Western Europe, 80 percent of all households owned a mobile phone. About 75 percent of U.S. households own a mobile phone. The number of users would probably experience an increasing trend. According to the Ministry of Industry and Information, the mobile phone subscribers in China has risen to more than 574 million by March 2008.

From these data, we can see that the use of these electronic equipments will experience continuously increase in the future years. Along with the robust growth, how to deal with the electronic waste issue have raised concern by the whole sociaty.

Enablers

1. Matured Electronic waste processing systems;
2. Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal;
3. Increasing number of electronic waste processing Center has been built in China while China's newly released Administrative Measures for the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Electronic Waste has been enacted from February 1, 2008. As China is the largest consumer electronics market, and 70% Of World's Electronic Waste would be Discarded In China,

the rugulations and processing centers would probably help improving its capacity on cycling e-waste, and reduce the negative influence on environment.

Inhabitors

1. Instead of recycling used electronics, large amounts of used electronics have been illegally sent to developing countries;
2. Lack of awareness on the hazard of e-waste in some poverty-stricken areas, and also governors in these areas have not enacted sound law and regulations;

Web Resources

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