Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (2013) 1e9
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Journal of Cleaner Production
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro
Survey and analysis of consumers’ behaviour of waste mobile phone
recycling in China
Jianfeng Yin a, Yingnan Gao b, **, He Xu a, *
a
b
College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, PR China
Policy Research Center for Environment and Economy, Ministry of Environmental Protection, Beijing 100029, PR China
a r t i c l e i n f o
a b s t r a c t
Article history:
Received 11 October 2011
Received in revised form
26 September 2013
Accepted 2 October 2013
Available online xxx
The aim of this paper is to investigate the behaviour of consumers toward waste mobile phone recycling on a
national scale in China. With this goal in mind, a questionnaire survey was performed on a nationwide scale
to explore consumers’ behaviours, attitudes and willingness to pay (WTP) for recycling waste mobile phones.
There were 1035 effective questionnaires, and the questionnaire was analysed with principal component
analysis and multinomial logistic regression analysis. The results revealed that the actual service life of
mobile phones in China is generally shorter than three years. Due to the current level of economic development and the traditional concept, only 47.9% of consumers agreed to pay for waste mobile phone recycling,
and most consumers’ WTP was 0e5% of the recycling costs. The main factors affecting the consumers’ WTP
were region, education level and monthly income. Therefore, mobile phone producers and the government
should mostly share the responsibility of waste mobile phone recycling. With an improvement in public
environmental awareness, it may be possible for consumers to afford recycling fees in the future, through
either a prepaid deposit, or purchasing the product with the fee embedded in the price. In addition, it is
important to support environmental education to promote environmental awareness.
Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords:
Waste mobile phone
Questionnaire
Recycling
EPR
Management
1. Introduction
With the rapid economic development and the continuous
improvement of people’s living standards, the electronic communications industry has experienced a trend of rapid growth in China. As
of 2004, China became the largest producer and consumer of mobile
phones in the world (MIIT, 2005). The production of mobile phones
has reached 1.13 billion units, accounting for 70.6% of the global
production. In 2011, there were 986.25 million users, which brought
the popularising rate reach to 73.6% in China (ITU, 2011; MIIT, 2012).
Moreover, the service life of mobile phones in China is generally less
than three years and is even close to one year in a portion of cases,
due to the pursuit of fashion and the desire to acquire new mobile
phone functions (Ha et al., 2010; Ongondo and Williams, 2011; Polák
and Drápalová, 2012). There are approximately 70 million waste
mobile phones being generated every year in China (Yu et al., 2010;
* Corresponding author. 407, Meng Minwei Building, College of Environmental
Science and Engineering, Nankai University, 94 Weijin Road, Nankai District, Tianjin
300071, PR China. Tel./fax: þ86 22 23508348.
** Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (Y. Gao), [email protected]
(H. Xu).
Wang et al., 2011). It is estimated that by 2020, the annual amount
of discarded mobile phones will be approximately seven times
greater than the amount in 2007 (UNEP, 2009). Compared to traditional municipal wastes, obsolete mobile phones contain both highly
toxic substances and valuable materials that can be recovered, such
as copper, silver, gold and palladium. Therefore, recycling of waste
mobile phones is required to garner the double value of both environmental protection and resource conservation. In China, however,
there is still a shortage of appropriate management policies and
collection systems on waste mobile phones, and recycling treatment
infrastructures still need to be developed (Li et al., 2012; Polák and
Drápalová, 2012; Song et al., 2012; Yu et al., 2010).
There is a large amount of legislation (e.g., the Basel Convention)
concerning e-waste, including waste mobile phone legislation
enacted to control waste electrical and electronic equipment
(WEEE) around the world (www.basel.int). Since the European
Union (EU) has implemented the restriction on hazardous substances (RoHS-Directive, 2002/95/EC) and waste electrical and
electronic equipment (WEEE-Directive, 2002/96/EC), many countries have paid considerable attention to WEEE management.
Extended producer responsibility (EPR), one of the most potent
principles incorporated into e-waste management, states that
producers and importers should extend their responsibility to
reclaim e-scrap (Afroz et al., 2013; Wang et al., 2011).
0959-6526/$ e see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.10.006
Please cite this article in press as: Yin, J., et al., Survey and analysis of consumers’ behaviour of waste mobile phone recycling in China, Journal of
Cleaner Production (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.10.006
2
J. Yin et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (2013) 1e9
However, beyond the responsibility of producers and importers,
the government and mobile phone customers also play important
roles in e-waste recycling (Hicks et al., 2005; Nnorom et al., 2009).
There have been many scientific studies focussing on successful ewaste management and collection systems (Dwivedy and Mittal,
2012; Dindarian et al., 2012; Oliveira et al., 2012; Torretta et al.,
2013). Research has also been conducted on the behaviour of customers regarding e-waste recycling or willingness to pay for ewaste recycling in foreign countries (Afroz et al., 2013; Dwivedy
and Mittal, 2013; Darby and Obara, 2005; Saphores et al., 2012),
of which some studies have focused on used and end-of-life mobile
phones (Jang and Kim, 2010; Nnorom et al., 2009; Ongondo and
Williams, 2011; Polák and Drápalová, 2012).
As an important stakeholder of waste mobile phone recycling
and treatment, the socioeconomic characteristics of consumers,
such as gender, age, income and education level, play important
roles in the behaviour or willingness of the general public
(Saphores et al., 2012; Song et al., 2012; Yoo and Kwak, 2009).
Previous studies based on a questionnaire survey in China have
examined residents’ behaviours, attitudes and their willingness to
pay for e-waste recycling in developed regions, such as Beijing
(Wang et al., 2011), Macau (Song et al., 2012) and the medium-sized
city of Taizhou (Streicher-Porte and Geering, 2010). Nevertheless,
the characteristics are different from large WEEE to small e-waste,
with mobile phones serving as a typical example. As small WEEE,
mobile phones have a minor share of WEEE by weight, various
material compositions, defective reuse and recycling systems.
However, mobile phones are the vast majority by number and their
environmental and health impacts would not be negligible
(Chancerel and Rotter, 2009; Darby and Obara, 2005; Polák and
Drápalová, 2012; Xu, 2011). Most recently, China has been undergoing rapid urbanisation and faces both developing and developed
country problems, due to the wide geographical area and high
heterogeneity among population groups in China. Therefore, how
to collect waste mobile phones effectively and efficiently, especially
on a national scale, is still a primary challenge for the Chinese
government (Qu et al., 2013).
In our study, we first introduced a review of the e-waste policy
and practice situation in China, and then we analysed the questionnaire survey on a national scale. Based on our detailed analysis,
we provide several positive suggestions for methods of waste
mobile phone collection in the future. In addition, we encourage
policy makers to develop more effective management policies for
small WEEE disposal in China, as well as in other developing and
developed countries.
2. Management of waste mobile phones in China
2.1. Laws and regulations on waste mobile phone recycling in China
As the largest manufacturer and consumer of electronic appliances, the Chinese government has made efforts to tackle problems
associated with the recycling and disposal of waste electrical and
electronic equipment since 2001. The driving forces behind these
efforts come from both home and abroad. The regulations on
electronic products and e-waste recycling management systems in
other countries/regions (especially in the EU and its member
countries) have placed substantial pressure on the electronic
products export industry in China. Meanwhile, the amount of WEEE
is approaching a peak Chinese domestic e-waste stockpile (Liu
et al., 2006). There are three main government agencies regulating WEEE management in China (Yang et al., 2008): the Ministry
of Environmental Protection (MEP), the National Development and
Reform Commission (NDRC), and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). In addition, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC), the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), the Ministry of
Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MOHURD), and the State
Administration for Industry & Commerce (SAIC) are also involved in
the management of e-waste.
In response to the e-waste problem, China recently enacted a
number of specific laws on WEEE. There are three basic laws on ewaste in China: the Cleaner Production Promotion Law, the Solid
Waste Pollution Prevention Law (Amendment), and the Circular
Economy Promotion Law. Based on those laws, the agencies
Table 1
Relevant laws and regulations of electronic wastes in China.
Laws and regulations
Major contents
Relationship of the regulations
Implementation time
Technology Policy of Hazardous Waste Pollution
Control
Stipulate the activities technologies and facilities of
collection, transport, storage, recycling and disposal
of hazardous waste, including e-waste
Regulate the activities of production, collection,
transport, storage, recycling and disposal of battery
Blanket legislation on prevention and reduction of
pollution caused by solid waste
Establish the principles of “3R” and “polluter pays
principle”, encourage building multivariate
recycling system of e-waste
Chinese RoHS
Administrative rule
2001.12.17
Administrative rule
2003.10.09
Law
2005.04.01
Administrative rule
2006.04.27
Administrative rule
2007.03 0.01
Stipulate rules of renewable resources recycling
system
Regulate the activities of production, disassembly,
recycling, disposal and storage of e-waste
Regulate the requirements for the disassembly and
treatment of e-waste, excluding e-wastes collection
Stipulate the process of collection, transportation,
storage, dismantling, reuse and disposal of e-waste
Administrative rule
2007.05 0.01
Administrative rule
2008.02.01
Law
2009.01.01
Technical standard
2010.04.01
Chinese WEEE directive
Decree
2011.01.01
Establish special fund from producer and importer
to finance e-waste recycling and disposal
Establish some principals about the design and
production of EEE, and disposal of e-wastes
Administrative rule
2012.05.21
Law
2012.07.01
Technology Policy of Waste Battery Pollution
Prevention
Solid Waste Pollution Prevention Law
(Amendment)
Technology Policy of Discarded Household
Appliances and Electronic Products Pollution
Control
Management Measures of Pollution Prevention for
Electronic Information Products
Management Measures of Renewable Resources
Recycling
Regulations of Electronic Waste Pollution
Prevention
Circular Economy Promotion Law
Technology Specifications of Pollution Control for
Processing Waste Electrical and Electronic
Equipment
Management Ordinance of Recycling and Treatment
of Waste Electrical and Electronic Products
Administrative Measures of Fund for Waste
Electrical and Electronic Products
Cleaner Production Promotion Law (Amendment)
Please cite this article in press as: Yin, J., et al., Survey and analysis of consumers’ behaviour of waste mobile phone recycling in China, Journal of
Cleaner Production (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.10.006
J. Yin et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (2013) 1e9
3
2.2. Practice of waste mobile phone recycling in China
mentioned above have enacted 12 laws and regulations to manage
recycling and treatment of e-wastes including waste mobile phones
(Table 1), such as the Management Measures of Pollution Prevention for Electronic Information Products (Chinese RoHS, Mar. 1,
2007), the Management Ordinance of Recycling and Treatment of
Waste Electrical and Electronic Products (Chinese WEEE directive,
Jan. 1, 2011). These laws, regulations and policies have laid a solid
legal foundation for the healthy development of the electronic
waste recycling industry in China (Chung and Zhang, 2011; Chen
et al., 2009).
However, there are still many difficulties regarding waste mobile phone management in China, and a special legal framework on
small WEEE aiming to encourage stakeholders to participate in
waste mobile phones recycling does not exist, particularly
regarding integration of informal peddlers and private workshops
into the formal recycling system. Regarding waste mobile phone
management, China is lagging behind the European Union and
Japan (Qu et al., 2013; Queiruga et al., 2012; Zhou and Xu, 2012).
To recycle waste mobile phones, there have been a myriad of
voluntary recycling activities in Chinese communities, campuses
and cities, initiated by manufacturers, mobile telecom carriers or
sellers. The “Green Box Environmental Program” and the “Green
Card Recycling Activity” are two examples of waste mobile phones
recycling activities that have occurred in China (Zhou and Xu,
2012).
The “Green Box Environmental Program” launched in 2005 and
was co-sponsored by China Mobile, Motorola and Nokia. Green
Boxes, exclusively used for recycling waste mobile phones and their
accessories free of charge, were placed in 1000 business halls of
China Mobile, 150 mobile phone sales centres, and service centres
of Motorola and Nokia in 40 major cities. Six companies joined the
program in Apr. 2006, including LG, Lenovo, Chinabird, AMOI, NEC
and Panasonic. It was estimated that until September 2007, there
was a total recovery of nearly 2.6 million discarded mobile phone
Table 2
Questionnaire.
Basic information
City:
Age:
Sex:
Monthly income:
Education level:
Part One Treatment way
Q1-1 How long is the average service life of your phone?
Q1-2 What is the reason for replacing your mobile phone?
Q1-3 How do you treat your waste mobile phone?
Q1-4 Why do you not participate in waste mobile phones recycling?
Q1-5 What is the reason for the low recycling rate?
Q1-6 What is your preference patterns of waste mobile phones recycling?
,1 year
,2 years
,3 years
,4 years
,5 years
,more than 5 years
,Outdated style
,Outdated function
,Damage
,Others
,Stored at home
,Thrown away as ordinary garbage
,Recycled by Green Box Program
,Recycled by Old-for-New activity
,Sold to the peddler and second-hand market
,Would rather give the phone to families or friends than recycle it at a low price
,Do not know where to send the phone
,Mobile phone can be used as data storage equipment
,Being afraid of disclosure of privacy
,Absence of a sound recycling system
,Weak environmental awareness
,Absence of government regulation
,Absence of laws and regulations
,Old-for-New activity
,Door-to-door collecting service
,Collecting sites in community built by government
,Business hall of mobile telecom carrier
,Service centre and maintenance centre
Part Two Consumers’ environmental awareness
Q2-1 Do you know the “Green Box Environmental Protection Program” proposed jointly
by China Mobile, Motorola and Nokia in 2005?
Q2-2 Do you know that waste mobile phones contain toxic and hazardous substances,
such as lead, mercury, or arsenic?
Q2-3 Do you know that waste mobile phones contain recyclable precious metal substance,
like gold, silver, or palladium?
Q2-4 Do you know EPR stipulated in electric waste management laws?
Q2-5 Do you know the meaning of Extended Producer Responsibility?
,Have no
,Know
,Have no
,Know
,Have no
,Know
,Have no
,Know
,Have no
,Know
idea
idea
idea
idea
idea
,Knowing
,Knowing
,Knowing
,Knowing
,Knowing
,Knowing
,Knowing
,Knowing
,Knowing
,Knowing
very little
quite well
very little
quite well
very little
quite well
very little
quite well
very little
quite well
,Very familiar
,Very familiar
,Very familiar
,Very familiar
,Very familiar
Part Three Willingness to pay
Q3-1 Which department do you think should
take the responsibility of waste mobile phones recycling?
Q3-2 Do you agree that consumers are the ultimate
beneficiaries of product and service, and should they
afford a part of charge for the recycling of their waste mobile phones?
Q3-3 If consumers have to pay part of the waste mobile
phone recycling costs, what percentage of recycling costs can you accept?
,Government
,Manufacturer
,Seller
,Consumer
,Communication operator
,Common responsibility
,Disagree
,Agreement, Payment Pattern: Deposit system
,Agreement, Payment Pattern: paying when purchasing the product with
the payment embedded in the product price
,Agreement, Payment Pattern: paying when the product is asked for disposal
,Others
,0e5%
,6e10%
,11e15%
,16e20%
,21e25%
,more than 26%
Please cite this article in press as: Yin, J., et al., Survey and analysis of consumers’ behaviour of waste mobile phone recycling in China, Journal of
Cleaner Production (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.10.006
4
J. Yin et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (2013) 1e9
and accessory units. However, the recycling rate was very low in
comparison to the amount of waste mobile phones (Wang et al.,
2011) due to the voluntary nature of this program. Thus, there is
no guarantee that consumers will participate in the program,
particularly because they can obtain a bonus by selling their
obsolete cell phones (Kunming, 2011).
The “Green Card Recycling Activity” for mobile phone batteries
was initiated in 2006 by Suning, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Sony
Ericsson and Lenovo. This program specifically recycled waste
mobile phone batteries. All of the recycled waste phone batteries
were sound treated by professional treatment companies that were
commissioned by Suning, China mobile and individual consumers;
however, the activity was only a short-term voluntary initiative that
lasted one month (SOHU, 2006). Accordingly, the positive effect of
the activity was very limited.
From Jun. 1, 2009 to Dec. 31, 2011, the Chinese government had
proposed an “Old-for-New Activity”, and sales enterprises, such as
Gome and Suning, were involved in the recycling activity. However,
waste mobile phones were not yet included in the related “Old-forNew Catalog” (including TV sets, refrigerators, washing machines,
air conditioners and computers). In general, China has not set up a
practical waste mobile phone recycling system because of the lag in
laws and technology and the very low recycling rate. In addition,
most recycling and treatment activities mainly driven by economic
benefits were ineffective (Qu et al., 2013; Xing and Lu, 2008).
3. Methodology
3.1. Questionnaire design
Before the final data gathering, 200 questionnaires were
distributed to consumers through a pilot survey carried out in
Tianjin and Shanxi from Dec. 17, 2010 to Dec. 27, 2010. Based on the
feedback, a revised survey was conducted from Feb. 20, 2011 to
Mar. 15, 2011. The survey contained questions on basic socioeconomic information and three other parts. The socioeconomic information included questions regarding sex, age, city, education
level, and monthly income. The first of the three additional survey
parts uncovered consumers’ behaviours and attitudes on recycling
and treatment of waste mobile phones. The second part aimed to
investigate the consumers’ environmental awareness of waste
mobile phones recycling and treatment. The third part surveyed the
consumers’ willingness to pay for recycling and treatment of waste
mobile phones and factors influencing their willingness (see
Table 2).
3.2. Sampling methods
The purpose of this paper was to investigate the behaviours,
attitudes and willingness of customers to participate in waste
mobile phones recycling on a national scale. This paper adopted the
stratified random sampling method to carry out the survey due to
the tremendous differences and high heterogeneity among population groups.
Consumers’ recycling behaviour was directly related to the level
of the region’s economic development, so this paper used the per
capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as the basis for the stratified
random sampling. According to preliminary calculations from 2010
(NBSC, 2011), China’s GDP had reached 39.7983 trillion Yuan
(Renminbi, RMB), and the per capita GDP was 29,678 RMB. The per
capita GDP of Shanghai, Beijing and Tianjin, the three municipalities directly governed by the Central government, had exceeded
60,000 RMB and reached or approached the per capita level of the
moderately developed countries (Sina, 2011). However, the per
capita GDP of some provinces, such as Yunnan, Gansu, Guizhou,
Table 3
Region division of the Questionnaire.
Region
GDP per capita (RMB)
Provinces and cities
A
B
Above 5000
3000e5000
C
2000e3000
D
1000e2000
Bejing, Shanghai, Tianjin
Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Guangdong, Inner
Mongolia, Shangdong, Liaoning, Fujian
Jilin, Hebei, Hubei, Heilongjiang, Henan,
Shanxi, Shaanxi, Chongqing
Hainan, Qinghai, Sichuan, Anhui,
Guangxi, Jiangxi, Tibet, Gansu, Guizhou,
Yunnan, Ningxia, Hunan
were less than 15,000 RMB. Consequently, the paper divided the
entire country into four sub-regions: A, B, C, and D with the per
capita GDP as the criteria (see Table 3). And no less than 1000
questionnaires were distributed in the 4 regions (Table 4).
There were some difficulties in distributing questionnaires due
to the wide geographical area. Therefore, this paper adopted two
distribution channels for the survey, including an on-site method
and an on-line, web-site method.1 Both methods had advantages
and disadvantages. The respondents interviewed using the on-site
method had strong randomness and high representativeness, but
this method needed a higher level of manpower and material resources. Although the on-line, web-site method was more convenient and less resource intensive, the respondents were limited to
netizens, which were poor in representativeness. To make full use
of the advantages of these two methods and to enhance the
representativeness and accuracy of the data, this paper adopted
both survey methods.
3.3. Modelling methods
3.3.1. Stratified random sampling
In sample surveys, we often divide a population into a finite
number of disjointed subpopulations, namely, strata (Hu et al.,
2008). Assuming that a finite population with N elements is
divided into k strata, and the ith stratum possesses Ni elements,
N ¼
k
X
Ni
(1)
i¼1
If ni elements were taken from stratum i in compliance with the
principle of random sample,
n ¼
k
X
ni ;
(2)
i¼1
where: i ¼ 1,2,.,k.
3.3.2. Likert-type scale
The Likert-type scale is the most common research method for
surveying opinions and attitudes in the social and business sciences. Respondents are asked to respond to indicate their level of
agreement with a declarative statement. For a five-point method,
each scale point could be labelled in accordance with its agreement
level as follows: A ¼ strongly disagree, B ¼ disagree, C ¼ neither
disagree nor agree, D ¼ agree, and F ¼ strongly agree. Based on
what is being measured, the scale labels could be worded differently (Li, 2013; Ryan and Garland, 1999). In part two of the study,
the attitude, belief, knowledge or experience of the respondent was
1
The web-site for the questionnaire: http://taidu8.com/sr/faces/welcome.jsp?
surveyId¼394C967144A111E085A52679EA2A13E0
Please cite this article in press as: Yin, J., et al., Survey and analysis of consumers’ behaviour of waste mobile phone recycling in China, Journal of
Cleaner Production (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.10.006
J. Yin et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (2013) 1e9
5
browse the web site of the questionnaire. The demographic
composition of the sample is presented in Table 5.
Table 4
Distribution of the sample.
District
A
B
C
D
Total
The number of issued
questionnaires
The number of returned
questionnaires
The response rate
The number of effective
questionnaires
The availability rate
285
255
280
280
1100
5. Discussion
279
241
271
273
1064
5.1. Consumers’ recycling behaviour
98.0%
273
94.5%
227
96.8%
264
97.5%
270
96.7%
1035
95.8%
89.0%
94.3%
96.4%
94.1%
5.1.1. Average service life of mobile phones in China
With the rapid development of the economy and the electronic
communications industry, most consumers upgrade their phones
due to fashion obsolescence and the desire for new mobile phone
functions, meaning that the potential life span of a mobile phone is
relatively short. According to the data from the questionnaires, the
service life of mobile phones is generally less than 3 years (Fig. 1),
which is shorter than the designed service life.
The major reasons that most consumers replaced their mobile
phones were that their mobile phones were damaged (43.8%), or
the functions and styles were unfashionable (37.1%). The short
service life would lead to a large number of waste mobile phones,
which could be potentially hazardous to the environment. Meanwhile, more and more energy and resources would be utilised to
manufacture new mobile phones. Accordingly, consumers should
extend the service life of their mobile phones to preserve energy
and resources.
measured with suitable labels such as ‘Have no idea e very
familiar’, with value assignments such that option (A) is 1, option
(B) is 2.and option (E) is 5. The reliability and construct validity
were analysed by the T-Test and Principal Component Analysis of
the SPSS software, respectively.
4. Results
Considering several unavailable questionnaires via in-person
questionnaires, we distributed 1100 questionnaires in the 4 regions through an on-site and on-line, web-site method, to ensure
the sample size. The total number of returned questionnaires was
1064, and the number of effective questionnaires was 1035. The
response rate was 96.7%, and the availability rate was 94.1% (see
Table 4). The likely reasons behind the high response rate and
effective questionnaire are as follows: (1) For the on-site method,
we gave gifts to consumers to attract them; and (2) For the online, web-site method, consumers could easily answer the
questionnaires by marking their options with a mouse, and
clicking the submit button when they finished. If consumers did
not finish the questionnaires, the submit button would not be
activated.
There was a bias in the sample toward male (53.9%), 21e30 years
old (41.2%), and junior college and bachelor (55.3%) respondents,
either because these people were more interested in completing
the questionnaires, or because these people had more time to
Table 5
Demographic composition of the sample.
N (number)
Sex
Male
Female
Age
10e20
21e30
31e40
41e50 and above
Monthly income (RMB)
0
1e2000
2001e3000
3001e5000
5001e8000
8001e15,000
Education level
Senior High School and Below
Junior College and Bachelor
Master and Above
Region
A
B
C
D
Total
%
558
477
53.9%
46.1%
153
426
291
165
14.8%
41.2%
28.1%
15.9%
345
228
198
189
54
21
33.3%
22.0%
19.1%
18.3%
5.2%
2.0%
193
572
270
18.6%
55.3%
26.1%
273
227
264
270
1035
26.4%
22.0%
25.5%
26.1%
100%
5.1.2. Consumers’ mobile phone treatment methods
Through this investigation, it was concluded that 24.8% of the
mobile phones had been given to others or lost (or been stolen).
These phones were reused by consumers, which could extend the
lifespan of mobile phones. Approximately 47.1% of waste mobile
phones were stored at home. The material flow of waste mobile
phones is shown in Fig. 2.
Only 28.1% of waste mobile phones were recycled in various
ways, with 6.5% being recycled through the “Green Box Program”.
The other 2.3% were recycled through the “Old-for-New activity”,
but there was no uniform subsidised price of the “Old-for-New
activity”. In addition, 12.4% of waste mobile phones were sold to
peddlers or disordered second-hand markets, most of which could
not be disposed of in a reasonable way although some phones
would eventually be recycled. The peddlers and disordered secondhand markets would dismantle valuable components, sell the
phones in rural areas after reassembly or refurbishment, and then
throw the remains into the surrounding environment (Qu et al.,
2013). Most of the unavailable phones were sold to private workshops for dismantlement using out-dated technologies, such as acid
baths or open incineration, which would cause serious secondary
pollution. Additionally, approximately 6.8% of waste phones were
thrown away as ordinary garbage. All of these waste mobile phones
could be potentially hazardous to the environment and the
manufacture of new phones would waste energy and resources.
5.1.3. Factors hindering the behaviour of customers in e-waste
recycling
From the questionnaire, the main reasons listed for why many
waste mobile phones were not recycled were that most consumers
did not know where to send the phones (45.9%), or that they would
rather give their phones to families or friends than recycle it for a
small fee (28.3%). Moreover, some consumers were afraid of privacy
disclosure (17.7%), and a few consumers used waste mobile phones
purely as data storage equipment (8.1%).
5.1.4. Consumers’ attitude towards the low recycling rate
The survey revealed that the recycling rate of waste mobile
phones is notably low in China. Asked what causes the low rate,
33.4% of consumers indicated that the main reason was the absence
Please cite this article in press as: Yin, J., et al., Survey and analysis of consumers’ behaviour of waste mobile phone recycling in China, Journal of
Cleaner Production (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.10.006
6
J. Yin et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (2013) 1e9
Fig. 1. The average service life of mobile phones.
of a sound recycling system. Approximately 23.8%, 15.7%, and 15.2%
believed the prime element behind the low rate was weak environmental awareness, the absence of government management,
and the absence of laws and regulations, respectively. In addition, a
few consumers expressed that there was an inadequate level of
publicity on the necessity of waste mobile phone recycling.
Hence, we should build a reasonable recycling system to
improve the recycling rate. In addition, we also need to strengthen
publicity through various means to raise environmental protection
awareness among the general public.
5.1.5. Consumers’ preference patterns of waste mobile phone
recycling
To improve the recycling rate in China, it is very important to
establish a reasonable and acceptable recycling system. The
investigation of consumers’ preference patterns of waste mobile
phone recycling indicated that 28.5% of consumers are willing to
send their phones to sellers through the “Old-for-New activity”,
while a portion of consumers prefer to receive a bonus by selling
their waste phones. Many consumers hoped that the government
would establish collecting sites in communities (25.0%), or that
their phones could be collected in business halls of mobile telecom
carriers (24.7%). The possible reason for this preference by consumers is that the collecting sites or business halls are widely
distributed and close to communities, providing a more convenient
recycling location for consumers. However, the choice of door-todoor collecting service was low (11.1%), due to fears of privacy
disclosure. In addition, only 10.6% of consumers’ choices were the
service centres and maintenance centres because the centres were
too concentrated and far away from communities. Based on the
laws and regulations encouraging WEEE to be recycled through a
variety of ways, the “Old-for-New activity” should be standardised
Fig. 2. Material flow of waste mobile phones.
Please cite this article in press as: Yin, J., et al., Survey and analysis of consumers’ behaviour of waste mobile phone recycling in China, Journal of
Cleaner Production (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.10.006
J. Yin et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (2013) 1e9
as soon as possible, and the “Green Box Program” should be given
more publicity. Meanwhile, the government should build collecting
sites in communities. Consequently, waste mobile phones could be
recycled effectively through these three main methods.
5.2. Consumers’ recovery consciousness
The results of an independent sample analysis using SPSS
revealed that the second part of the questionnaire has high reliability and discrimination, and good construct validity. The mean
values of the five questions in this section were, respectively
calculated (Table 6). The questionnaire results revealed that consumers have the highest level of understanding regarding the toxic,
hazardous substances and precious metal substances contained in
mobile phones. However, a substantial number of consumers were
not aware of the “Green Box Environmental Protection Program”
and the principle of EPR. In contrast, consumers were more familiar
with the common knowledge of mobile phone components. In
general, consumers were less knowledgeable about e-waste recycling. Accordingly, the government should provide more information on a short-term time scale to promote residents’ general
understanding about e-waste, especially information about the
laws, policies and recycling systems. Furthermore, the fundamental
method to improve customers’ recovery consciousness is to increase the education level of the overall population (Song et al.,
2012).
5.3. Consumers’ WTP
Relevant laws proposed the theory of EPR in relation to the issue
of payment methods of WEEE recycling. One important aspect of
EPR is the concept of shared responsibility. The key element of EPR
includes multi-stakeholder collaboration and coordination (Zhang
and Wei, 2008). The Management Ordinance of Recycling and
Treatment of Waste Electrical and Electronic Products, implemented on Jan. 1, 2011, determined that the government should
allocate special funds to support the recycling and treatment of
waste electrical and electronic products; furthermore, the producers and importers have obligations to pay the recycling fees.
However, there were no financial responsibility requirements on
sellers and consumers. Based on the experiences of developed
countries, a complete and stable waste mobile phone recycling
system requires collaboration of stakeholders, including the government, producers, sellers, mobile telecom carriers and consumers. However, based on the questionnaire, many consumers did
not think they should be held responsible for the take-back fees
because of the tradition that in China they can obtain a bonus by
selling their obsolete cell phones instead of paying recycling fees
for waste mobile phone recycling. Furthermore, only 6.1% of consumers thought that the five stakeholders mentioned above should
participate jointly.
5.3.1. WTP
According to the beneficiary pays principle, as the ultimate
beneficiaries of production and services, consumers should be
responsible for a part of the charge for waste mobile phone recycling and treatment. However, 52.1% of the consumers from the
questionnaire did not accept this view due to the current level of
Table 6
Mean value of the five questions.
Question
Q2-1
Q2-2
Q2-3
Q2-4
Q2-5
Mean value
1.46
2.96
2.45
1.78
1.90
7
economic development and the traditional concept of waste responsibility. Another 47.9% of consumers agreed to pay the costs of
recycling and treatment; however, the consumers had different
opinions regarding the payment method. Approximately 20.3%
wanted to pay deposits at the time of purchase, deducting costs
from the deposits and returning the remaining part when handing
in their e-waste products, and 15.7% believed recycling costs should
be embedding in the price of the product. The remaining 11.9% of
consumers were more inclined to pay the costs to the recyclers as
part of the actual e-waste collection.
In this case, consumers exhibited low WTP. About 65.2% of
consumers’ WTP was 0e5% of recycling costs, and 19.1% of consumers’ WTP was 6e10%. Only a small number of consumers would
accept higher take-back fees.
5.3.2. Influencing factors of WTP
This study determined the influencing factors of WTP with a
multinomial logistic regression analysis in SPSS. WTP was set as the
dependent variable, and region, education level, and monthly income were set to be influencing factors. The significant values of
the Chi-square test are all smaller than 0.01 (Table 7). Therefore,
these 3 WTP factors were significant.
This study also indicated the relationships between WTP and
the 3 factors (Tables 8e10). The average values in the 3 tables
revealed that the number of consumers decreases as the WTP increases. Moreover, when WTP was higher than 15%, the number of
consumers in regions A, B, C, D was only 7.7%, 6.5%, 5.6%, and 4.4%,
respectively. This implied that the consumers from developed areas
were willing to pay more for waste mobile phone recycling. When
WTP was lower than 5%, the percentages of the number of consumers were similar in the 4 regions, and the level of economic
development had no significant impact on WTP. Therefore, it could
be inferred that a payment of 5% of the recycling cost is accepted
nationwide.
WTP of consumers with different monthly incomes are shown
in Table 9. When WTP was higher than 15%, consumers with highincome levels were still likely to participate in recycling programs
in each WTP level (5.50% > 4.70%; 1.50% > 0.57%; 0.70% > 0.33%).
When WTP was lower than 5%, there were no significant differences regardless of whether the customers’ monthly incomes were
above or below 3000 RMB. Consequently, consumers would likely
accept 5% of the recycling cost.
Table 10 indicates the WTP of consumers with different education levels. When WTP was lower than 10%, there was no obvious
distinction between more-educated and relatively less-educated
customers regarding e-waste recycling behaviour. However, when
WTP was higher than 10%, 17.5% of consumers with a master’s
degree or above could accept this rate, 17.2% of the consumers in
Junior colleges and universities could accept it, and only 14.1% of
the consumers in senior high school or below could accept it.
Perhaps the reason behind these differences is that consumers with
a higher education level are very knowledgeable and have a greater
environmental awareness.
Through the above analysis, it was concluded that monthly income and education level have a positive relationship with the
Table 7
Likelihood ratio of test results.
Effect
2 Log likelihood of
reduced model
Chi-square
df
Sig.
Intercept
Region
Education level
Monthly income
757.272
842.449
828.672
878.285
0.000
85.178
71.400
121.013
0
15
20
25
0.000
0.000
0.000
Please cite this article in press as: Yin, J., et al., Survey and analysis of consumers’ behaviour of waste mobile phone recycling in China, Journal of
Cleaner Production (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.10.006
8
J. Yin et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (2013) 1e9
Table 8
Different willingness to pay of the 4 regions.
Region
0e5%
6e10%
11e15%
16e20%
21e25%
More than 25%
A
B
C
D
Average
65.50%
65.70%
64.80%
65.60%
65.40%
20.20%
23.70%
25.00%
17.80%
21.70%
6.60%
3.90%
4.50%
12.20%
6.80%
5.50%
3.90%
3.40%
3.30%
4.03%
2.20%
0.00%
1.10%
1.10%
1.10%
0.00%
2.60%
1.10%
0.00%
0.90%
Table 9
WTP of different monthly incomes.
Monthly income 0e5%
6e10% 11e15% 16e20% 21e25% More than 25%
0
1e2000
2001e3000
Average
55.70%
79.00%
74.10%
69.60%
29.60%
11.80%
18.20%
19.87%
7.00%
2.60%
5.20%
8.27%
6.10%
6.50%
1.50%
4.70%
1.70%
0.00%
0.00%
0.57%
0.00%
0.00%
1.00%
0.33%
3001e5000
5001e8000
8001e15,000
Average
71.40%
66.70%
85.70%
69.4%
11.10%
16.70%
14.30%
17.0%
4.80%
5.60%
0.00%
5.90%
9.50%
5.60%
0.00%
5.50%
1.60%
5.60%
0.00%
1.50%
1.60%
0.00%
0.00%
0.70%
(4) Consumers’ level of environmental awareness was low due
to the absence of environmental publicity and education in
China.
(5) It is very important to establish a reasonable and acceptable
recycling system to improve the recycling rate. The “Old-forNew activity”, the “Green Box Program” and collection sites
in communities were more popular with consumers in the
questionnaire.
(6) The level of consumers’ environmental awareness was low,
especially regarding relevant knowledge of laws, policies and
systems. Most consumers’ WTP was 0e5% of recycling costs,
and the factors affecting the WTP were region, education
level and monthly income. Consumers with high-income
levels, higher education levels, and residing in developed
areas were more likely to pay for recycling.
7. Recommendations and further research
willingness of customers in waste mobile phone recycling. Most
consumers could afford 5% of the recycling costs, so it was necessary to regulate consumers’ economic responsibility based on the
survey.
6. Conclusions
According to the analysis of the questionnaire, the following
conclusions are proposed:
(1) Although the Chinese government has enacted 12 laws and
regulations to manage the recycling and treatment of ewaste, a special legal framework on small WEEE aiming to
encourage stakeholders to participate in waste mobile
phones recycling is still necessary to be developed. All of the
current recycling activities in China are voluntary initiatives,
and there is no guarantee that consumers will participate in
the formal program because they can obtain a bonus by
selling their obsolete cell phones.
(2) This study indicated that in China, the actual service life of
mobile phones is generally less than 3 years, which is shorter
than the designed service life because of consumers’ unceasing demand for new functions and styles. This leads to a
large quantity of waste mobile phones.
(3) There were 6 main ways that consumers could address their
waste mobile phones. About 47.1% of the consumers’ mobile
phones were stored at home, and most of the waste mobile
phones could not be recycled effectively, meaning that this
waste could be potentially hazardous to the environment
and that the manufacture of new phones would waste energy and resources.
Table 10
Different willingness to pay of different education level.
Education level
0e5%
6e10%
11e15%
16e20%
21e25%
More
than 25%
Senior High School
and Below
Junior College
and Bachelor
Master and Above
Average
70.3%
15.6%
7.8%
6.3%
0.0%
0.0%
64.6%
21.8%
5.9%
6.1%
4.0%
1.2%
67.3%
66.4%
19.3%
18.9%
9.3%
7.7%
2.7%
6.0%
4.1%
2.7%
1.4%
0.9%
EPR was an important theory for determining the responsibilities regarding e-waste recycling. However, this theory
does not mean that only manufacturers should take charge of the ewaste recycling fee. The collaboration and coordination of multistakeholders is also a key component of EPR. Therefore, the government, manufacturers, sellers, mobile telecom carriers, professional recovery operators and consumers should all participate in
waste mobile phone recycling. As a government-dominating society, the Chinese government should first formulate specialised laws
and a complete reasonable management system on small WEEE.
Another important element is to encourage other stakeholders to
participate in waste mobile phone recycling, especially integration
of informal peddlers and private workshops into formal recycling
system through laws and economic incentives instead of simply
prohibiting these informal sectors (Qu et al., 2013). However,
considering the consumers’ traditions and the low WTP in China,
producers and the government should mostly share the responsibility of waste mobile phone recycling.
In addition, it is important to support environmental education
to promote environmental awareness; environmental education
plays a major role in improving children’s future environmental
behavioural practices. Meanwhile, environmental publicity activities for the general public, at least for a short period of time, should
continue to be organised regularly in communities, enterprises,
government agencies and universities. Measures for recycling could
be effectively conducted only when consumers are fully knowledgeable about e-waste (e.g., its harm, relevant management policies and recycling system) (Afroz et al., 2013; Song et al., 2012; Yoo
and Kwak, 2009). With the improvement of public environmental
awareness, it may be possible in the future for consumers to afford
some recycling fee either through a prepaid deposit or when purchasing the product with the fee embedded in the price.
Moreover, we should extend the service life of mobile phones
through three methods. First, manufacturers should extend the
designed service life of mobile phones with new technologies,
especially regarding the battery life. Second, consumers could
extend the actual service life of mobile phones through reduction of
their upgrading frequency, or through donation of unused phones
to others. Finally, the administrative departments should reorganise and standardise the secondary market, requiring second-hand
labels for second-hand phones.
This paper first performed a questionnaire survey to analyse
consumers’ behaviours, attitudes, and their WTP for recycling outdated mobile phones on a national scale. Due to limited resources
such as time, money and manpower, the respondents are anonymous through two distribution channels (i.e., an on-site and an on-
Please cite this article in press as: Yin, J., et al., Survey and analysis of consumers’ behaviour of waste mobile phone recycling in China, Journal of
Cleaner Production (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.10.006
J. Yin et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (2013) 1e9
line, web-site method). The advantages and disadvantages of each
survey method exist simultaneously. The utilisation of both
methods enabled a representative sample, but the data quality was
not high. For future research, we should aim to use face-to-face
interviews with well-trained interviewers to investigate the willingness of different groups in different regions, and these surveys
would be valuable because they can provide most complete,
comprehensive and meaningful high-quality data.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the anonymous survey takers for
participating in this questionnaire.
References
Afroz, R., et al., 2013. Survey and analysis of public knowledge, awareness and
willingness to pay in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia e a case study on household
WEEE management. J. Clean. Prod.. <http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.02.
004>.
Chancerel, Perrine, Rotter, Susanne, 2009. Recycling-oriented characterization of
small waste electrical and electronic equipment. Waste Manag. 29, 2336e2352.
Chen, X., Fu, J., Cheng, J.H., et al., 2009. Status and management strategies of WEEE
recycling and treatment in China. Renew. Resour. Recycl. Econ. 2 (7), 34e38 (in
Chinese).
Chung, Shan, Zhang, Chan, 2011. An evaluation of legislative measures on electrical
and electronic waste in the People’s Republic of China. Waste Manag. 31, 2638e
2646.
Darby, L., Obara, L., 2005. Household recycling behavior and attitudes towards the
disposal of small electrical and electronic equipment. Resour. Conserv. Recycl.
44, 17e35.
Dindarian, A., .Gibson, A.A.P., Quariguasi-Frota-Neto, J., 2012. Electronic product
returns and potential reuse opportunities: a microwave case study in the
United Kingdom. J. Clean. Prod. 32, 21e31.
Dwivedy, Maheshwar, Mittal, R.K., 2012. An investigation into e-waste flows in
India. J. Clean. Prod. 37, 229e242.
Dwivedy, Maheshwar, Mittal, R.K., 2013. Willingness of residents to participate in ewaste recycling in India. Environ. Dev. 6, 48e68.
Ha, Vinh Hung, Lee, Jae-chun, Jeong, Jinki, et al., 2010. Thiosulfate leaching of gold
from waste mobile phones. J. Hazard. Mater. 178, 1115e1119.
Hicks, C., Dietmar, R., Eugster, M., 2005. The recycling and disposal of electrical and
electronic waste in Chinaddlegislative and market responses. Environ. Impact
Assess. Rev. 25 (5), 459e471.
Hu, Zhishui, Ma, Chunsheng, Robinson, John, 2008. Empirical saddlepoint approximations of the studentized mean under stratified random sampling. Stat.
Probabil. Lett. 78, 396e401.
International Telecommunication Union (ITU), 2011. Mobile Cellular Subscriptions
Key 2000-2011 Country Data (Excel Format) e Mobile Cellular Subscriptions.
<http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics> (accessed 06, 2012).
Jang, Y.-C., Kim, M., 2010. Management of used & end-of-life mobile phones in
Korea: a review. Resour. Conserv. Recycl. 55, 11e19.
Kunming, Green, 2011. A Proposal for Promoting China Mobile to Renew “Green Box
Program” (in Chinese) <http://www.greenkm.org/project/617.html> (accessed
16.06.13.).
Li, Qing, 2013. A novel Likert scale based on fuzzy sets theory. Expert Syst. Appli. 40,
1609e1618.
Li, Jingying, Xu, Xiuli, Liu, Wenquan, 2012. Thiourea leaching gold and silver from the
printed circuit boards of waste mobile phones. Waste Manag. 32, 1209e1212.
Liu, X.B., Masaru, T., Yasuhiro, M., 2006. Electrical and electronic waste management in
China: progress and the barriers to overcome. Waste Manag. Res. 24 (1), 92e101.
Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), 2005. Nine Characteristics
of Mobile Phone Industry in 2004 (in Chinese) <http://it.people.com.cn/GB/
1068/42899/3225480.html> (accessed 05, 2013).
9
Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), 2012. Statistical Bulletin of
the Electronic Information Industry in 2011 (in Chinese) <http://www.miit.gov.
cn/n1293472/n11293832/n11293907/n11368223/14474955.html>
(accessed
02.03, 2012).
National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBSC), 2011. Statistical Bulletin of National
Economic and Social Development in China 2010 (in Chinese) <http://www.
stats.gov.cn/tjgb/ndtjgb/qgndtjgb/t20110228_402705692.htm>
(accessed
02.28, 2011).
Nnorom, I.C., Ohakwe, J., Osibanjo, O., 2009. Survey of willingness of residents to
participate in electronic waste recycling in Nigeria e a case study of mobile
phone recycling. J. Clean. Prod. 17 (18), 1629e1637.
Oliveira, Camila Reis de, et al., 2012. Collection and recycling of electronic scrap: a
worldwide overview and comparison with the Brazilian situation. Waste
Manag. 32, 1592e1610.
Ongondo, F.O., Williams, I.D., 2011. Mobile phone collection, reuse and recycling in
the UK. Waste Manag. 31, 1307e1315.
Polák, Milos, Drápalová, Lenka, 2012. Estimation of end of life mobile phones
generation: the case study of the Czech Republic. Waste Manag. 32, 1583e1591.
Qu, Y., et al., 2013. A review of developing an e-wastes collection system in Dalian,
China. J. Clean. Prod.. <http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.02.013>.
Queiruga, D., González Benito, J., Lannelongue, G., 2012. Evolution of the electronic
waste management system in Spain. J. Clean. Prod. 24, 56e65.
RoHS-Directive, 2002. Directive 2002/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 27 January 2003 on the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous
Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment.
Ryan, Chris, Garland, Ron, 1999. The use of a specific non-response option on Likerttype scales. Tour. Manag. 20, 107e113.
Saphores, Jean-Daniel M., Ogunseitanc, Oladele A., Shapiro, Andrew A., 2012.
Willingness to engage in a pro-environmental behavior: an analysis of e-waste
recycling based on a national survey of U.S. households. Resour. Conserv. Recycl.
60, 49e63.
Sina, 2011. China’s per capita GDP has reached 30,000 yuan (RMB) (RMB) in 2010 (in
Chinese)
<http://finance.sina.com.cn/roll/20111222/102511040247.shtml>
(accessed 16.05.13.).
SOHU, 2006. Suning Are Launching Green Card Recycling Activity of Waste Mobile
Phone Battery (in Chinese) <http://business.sohu.com/20060313/n242262965.
shtml> (accessed 16.05.13.).
Song, Qingbin, Wang, Zhishi, Li, Jinhui, 2012. Residents’ behaviors, attitudes, and
willingness to pay for recycling e-waste in Macau. J. Environ. Manag. 106, 8e16.
Streicher-Porte, M., Geering, A., 2010. Opportunities and threats of current e-waste
collection system in China: a case study from Taizhou with a focus on refrigerators, washing machines, and televisions. Environ. Eng. Sci. 27 (1), 29e36.
Torretta, Vincenzo, et al., 2013. Management of waste electrical and electronic
equipment in two EU countries: a comparison. Waste Manag. 33, 117e122.
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), 2009. Recycling: From E-waste to
Resources.
<http://www.unep.org/pdf/pressreleases/E-waste_publication_
screen_finalversion-sml.pdf> (accessed 26.04.13.).
Wang, Z.H., Zhang, B., Yin, J.H., Zhang, X., 2011. Willingness and behavior towards ewaste recycling for residents in Beijing city, China. J. Clean. Prod. 19, 977e984.
WEEE-Directive, 2002. Directive 2002/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 27 January 2003 on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment
(WEEE).
Xing, G.J., Lu, Z.F., 2008. Study on mobile phone recycling channels of reverse logistics under EPR. J. Nanjing Univ. Posts Telecommun. (Soc. Sci.) 10 (4), 41e49
(in Chinese).
Xu, Zhiduan, 2011. Willingness towards used mobile phones recycling for urban
consumers in China. Commer. Res. 409 (5), 185e189 (in Chinese).
Yang, J.X., Lu, B., Xu, C., 2008. WEEE flow and mitigating measures in China. Waste
Manag. 28, 1589e1597.
Yoo, S.H., Kwak, S.Y., 2009. Willingness to pay for green electricity in Korea: a
contingent valuation study. Energy Policy 37, 5408e5416.
Yu, J.L., Eric, W., Ju, M.T., 2010. Analysis of material and energy consumption of
mobile phones in China. Energy Policy 38 (8), 4135e4141.
Zhang, K.J., Wei, S.H., 2008. Revelation to China from WEEE Recycle system based
on EPR in Germany. Environ. Prot. 402 (8B), 76e79 (in Chinese).
Zhou, L., Xu, Z.M., 2012. Response to waste electrical and electronic equipments in
China: Legislation, recycling system, and advanced integrated process. Environ.
Sci. Technol 46, 4713e4724.
Please cite this article in press as: Yin, J., et al., Survey and analysis of consumers’ behaviour of waste mobile phone recycling in China, Journal of
Cleaner Production (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.10.006