The Ministry of Ecology and Environment has issued new regulations to regulate and control the recycling and treatment of waste electrical appliances to prevent pollution.

To regulate the recycling and disposal of waste electrical and electronic products, prevent and reduce environmental pollution, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment recently released the "Technical Specification for Pollution Control in the Treatment of Waste Electrical and Electronic Products", which is scheduled to be implemented starting from March 1st this year. This information was obtained by reporters at a press conference held by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment on the 27th. Spokesperson for the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Pei Xiaofei, introduced that China is the world's largest manufacturer and consumer of electrical and electronic products. With the acceleration of product updates and iterations, the amount of waste electrical products continues to grow and the variety keeps increasing. In recent years, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has been guiding the proper disassembly and recycling of waste electrical products through regular channels. For example, over the past decade, more than 1 billion units of "four appliances and one computer" have been properly processed in various regions, with about 22 million tons of disassembled products being reused and properly disposed of. It was reported that the technical specifications released this time were revisions to the 2010 specifications. The technical specifications expanded the categories of waste electrical products, such as including new types of waste electrical products commonly used in recent years, such as government self-service machines, retail self-service checkout machines, intelligent unmanned aerial vehicles, wearable smart devices, and smart car-mounted devices, into the scope of management. At the same time, the technical specifications elaborate on the pollution control requirements during the storage process, specifying the storage and protection requirements for different categories of waste electrical products and their disassembled products; improve the pollution control requirements during the disassembly process, specifying differentiated disassembly technology requirements for different categories of waste electrical products, strengthening the prevention and control of harmful substance emissions; and enhancing the management of disassembled products, proposing utilization and disposal pollution control requirements tailored to the category of disassembled products. Pei Xiaofei said that the Ministry of Ecology and Environment will guide local authorities and companies to implement the latest requirements, urge companies to fulfill their main responsibilities, and continuously standardize the entire process of environmental management. At the same time, illegal disassembly and disposal activities will continue to be included in the special rectification action against illegal dumping and disposal of solid waste, with severe punishment for offenses such as open-air storage and illegal disassembly.