What does the suspension of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Disposal Fund mean?
On January 17, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and other four ministries and commissions issued the "Announcement on Matters Concerning the Suspension of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Products Disposal Fund" (hereinafter referred to as the "Announcement"), which will suspend the collection of the waste electrical and electronic products disposal fund from January 1 this year; This means that the waste electrical and electronic product disposal fund system, which has been established since 2012, has completed its historical mission.
In the past ten years, driven by the fund system, the dismantling industry of waste electrical and electronic products has developed rapidly, which has promoted the standardized dismantling of dismantling enterprises and improved the level of comprehensive utilization of resources. However, while the fund system plays a positive role, it also presents certain drawbacks. In order to prevent dismantling enterprises from falsely reporting and fraudulently claiming subsidy funds, the fund system makes unified provisions on the dismantling process of waste electrical and electronic products and the whereabouts of dismantling products, which restricts the cascade utilization of parts with reuse value to a certain extent. For example, the service life of the scroll compressor in the air conditioner is 15 years, but the safety service life of the air conditioner itself is 10 years. However, the compressors subsidized by the fund are mostly treated by punching, draining, etc., and then smelted in the smelting furnace as scrap steel. This is neither conducive to the construction of "zero-waste cities" nor the reduction of carbon emissions.
According to the announcement, although the state has cancelled the fund subsidy, it will continue to support the treatment of waste electrical and electronic products in the form of special funds. The author believes that there should be room for reuse or cascade utilization, and through the study of the service life of each component in the waste electrical and electronic products, the parts with continued use value are allowed to be reused or cascade utilized, and the decision is left to the market. But it is also necessary to make a distinction, for example, on the appearance of the electrical and electronic products that use these parts.
In order to standardize the dismantling of enterprises and prevent false reporting and fraudulent receipt of subsidy funds, the review level under the fund subsidy model is two-level: on the basis of the self-inspection of the dismantling enterprises, the local ecological environment department shall review it by itself or entrust a third party, and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment will review it. It is suggested that the special fund subsidy model should be simplified to a first-level review, with the local ecology and environment department responsible for the review, and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment implementing supervision in the form of spot checks. Dismantling enterprises that are found to have made false reports, fraudulent claims, and been reported and verified during the review and spot checks shall be severely punished. Simplifying the level of examination can reduce costs and increase efficiency.
In addition, it should be noted that the current dismantling technology and equipment of waste electrical and electronic products are relatively old, which is not conducive to the long-term healthy development of the industry. In order to encourage dismantling and processing enterprises to develop and use advanced technology and equipment, and prevent environmental and safety risks, it is recommended that special subsidy funds be tilted towards advanced technology enterprises.
Author's Affilications:Shanghai Solid Waste and Chemical Management Technology Center
