The government is aiming to raise the recycling rate of mobile phones to 30 percent by 2030, the Ministry of Environment said at a panel discussion yesterday.
Although more than 6 million smartphones are sold in Taiwan annually, only 12 percent were recycled last year because of their relatively smaller sizes and higher markup prices, ministry data showed.
The ministry’s surveys also showed that consumers do not want to recycle their smartphones because their personal information is stored on the devices.
Photo: Chen Chia-yi, Taipei Times
To raise the mobile phone recycling rate, the ministry said it is drafting a set of rules that would require mobile phone importers and manufacturers to install more recycling facilities, assist mobile phone users in deleting personal data and give consumers additional incentives to recycle.
“A mobile phone contains 70 types of chemical substances, and recycling mobile phones would allow these substances to be reused and reduce explosion risks of lithium batteries. About 220,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity would be conserved if 10,000 mobile phones were recycled, which would translate to a reduced carbon emission of about 140 tonnes,” the ministry said.
The rules, which are stipulated based on the Resource Recycling Act (資源回收再利用法), would clearly list recycling an obligation of mobile phone importers and manufacturers, Resources Circulation Administration Deputy Director Wang Yeuh-bin (王嶽斌) said.
Mobile phone retailers should establish different channels for recycling, Wang said.
Business operators would be obligated to submit before March 31 every year information regarding their mobile phone recycling rates for the previous year, he said.
They would be asked to submit a plan to increase the recycling rate if they fail to reach the goal, he added.
“Our goal is to enhance the nation’s mobile phone recycling rate to at least 15 percent by 2025 and 30 percent by 2030,” Wang said, adding that the ministry would begin enforcing the rules next year.
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