E-waste piles up in hinterland

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By Tu Lei (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-03-23 07:44

Xiong Runlian is renovating her house and is unsure what to do with a 13-year-old 19-inch TV with a broken kinescope that has been abandoned in the attic for the better part of a decade.

"I do not know to deal with the old TV set; selling to the peddlers is not worth it at all, but leaving it at home takes up too much space," said Xiong.

The ruined TV set is not her only headache. An old 21-inch monitor also has been collecting dust in the attic.

A survey conducted by the college of Environmental Science and Engineering at Yangzhou University found 61 percent of rural families in Jiangsu province have at least two out-of-service TV sets, and 50 percent, 18 percent and 8 percent of families have broken radios, washing machines and refrigerators, respectively.

Some surveyed choose to keep them at home for the memories, or sell them to door-to-door peddlers. Ten percent say they will simply discard them outside.

The life span of an average TV is 8 to 10 years and an average personal computer's is six, according to the Standardization Administration of China.

Jiao Fu, from Chende, Hebei Province, has been in the e-waste business in Beijing for years. He said there is a vast surplus of junked TVs and radios in his rural home. "Go figure; I collect e-waste in Beijing for a living but at home there is way to deal with it. It's kind of funny," said Jiao.

But scattered villages, such as those in Jiao's home county, make e-waste collection work more difficult, he added.

Improper e-waste disposal in rural areas can result in environmental damage.

Tian Hui, senior engineer with the recycling center of China Home Appliances Research academy, said rural residents don't know much about the ecological harm e-waste can cause and which makes it more of a hazard than in cities.

The recently announced government policy of encouraging home appliance ownership in rural markets has the potential to bring even more e-waste to outlying areas.

The policy being effective on Feb 1 nationwide stipulates that a rural family will get a refund of 13 per cent of the money it spent for the purchase of the official-designated brands of color TV sets, refrigerators and mobile phones, motorcycles, personal computers, water heaters and air conditioners.

The refund is part of the government's efforts to stimulate the rural market demand. However, it has a side effect of mounting e-waste in the countryside.

"Demand for color TVs in rural areas will reach 100 million units over the next decade and demand for refrigerators will reach 145 million units, since China has 210 million rural households," says Sun Yiding, a spokesman for Gome, China's leading electrical appliance retailer.

Xu Dongsheng, vice-secretary-general of China Household Electrical Appliances Association, said it is not realistic to set up e-waste recycling sites in China's hinterland due its vast size.

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