With the rapid economic development, the rate of electronic waste generation in my country in recent years is very alarming. According to a report released by the United Nations Environment Programme in 2010, my country has become the second largest producer of electronic waste in the world, producing more than 2.3 million tons of electronic waste every year, second only to 3 million tons in the United States; by 2020, my country's waste computers will be more than Doubled to quadruple in 2007, discarded mobile phones will increase sevenfold. In the process of recycling and comprehensive utilization of electronic waste, there are phenomena of pollution to the environment and damage to human health to varying degrees, which needs to be paid attention to.

Due to the national promotion of the "green lighting" project, hundreds of millions of old energy-saving lamps listed in the first batch of financial subsidies in my country are entering a period of centralized scrapping, and the annual consumption will exceed 1 billion in the future. Because old energy-saving lamps contain toxic and harmful elements such as mercury and lead, experts call them the second largest source of domestic waste "mercury pollution" after waste batteries. In contrast, my country's energy-saving lamp recycling system is very "naive" , if disposed of improperly, the risk of contamination cannot be ignored.

Centralized obsolescence threatens the environment

In 2008, the state launched the "green lighting" project. Urban and rural residents purchase and use energy-saving lamps from winning companies with a 50% financial subsidy, and large-scale users such as enterprises and institutions receive a 30% subsidy. In addition, through the implementation of the ""Bright Walk" public welfare project", donations were made to remote mountainous areas.

In this context, the promotion of energy-saving lamps across China is very rapid. For example, from 2008 to 2011, Changsha City, Hunan Province promoted a total of 3.6 million high-efficiency lighting energy-saving lamps, of which 1.61 million were promoted in 2011, which was 2.3 times the task issued by the Hunan Provincial Development and Reform Commission.

Experts said that considering that the first batch of energy-saving lamps listed on the market generally has a service life of 3 years, it is judged that the hundreds of millions of energy-saving lamps listed in the first batch of financial subsidies are entering a centralized scrapping period.

Wu Defeng, director of Changsha's two types of office, told the "Economic Information Daily" reporter that energy-saving lamps save 80% of electricity than ordinary incandescent lamps. The promotion of 3.6 million energy-saving lamps in the city saves about 179 million kWh of electricity and reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 171,000 tons. According to the comprehensive work plan for energy conservation and emission reduction issued by the State Council, the national "green lighting" project promotes 150 million high-efficiency lighting products to the whole country through financial subsidies, which can save 29 billion kWh of electricity and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 2900 million a year. 10,000 tons and 290,000 tons of sulfur dioxide.

In Changsha, Beijing and other places such as Wal-Mart, Carrefour and other supermarkets, energy-saving lamps are dazzling. In the box of some international brands, there is a manual folded into small squares. On the back or corner of this piece of paper, there is a table of toxic and harmful substances and elements, showing that the four major components of energy-saving lamp caps, lamp caps, ballasts, and plastic parts have toxic and harmful elements such as lead, mercury, and polybrominated biphenyls to varying degrees. According to the "Limited Requirements for Toxic and Hazardous Substances in Electronic Information Products" issued by the Ministry of Information Industry, lead and mercury in the capillary of some spiral electronic energy-saving lamps, lead in ballasts, polybrominated biphenyls and polybrominated diphenyls in plastic parts The ether exceeds the standard; while some energy-saving lamps exceed the lead in the capillary, lamp cap, and ballast, and the mercury in the capillary exceeds the standard.

According to the General Office of the Changsha Type Office, relevant research shows that the average mercury content of waste energy-saving lamps, especially old-fashioned fluorescent tubes, is about 0.5 mg, which is only enough to cover the tip of a ballpoint pen. But if it penetrates into the ground, it is enough to pollute about 180 tons of water and the surrounding soil. In addition, after the waste energy-saving lamps are broken, the mercury concentration in the surrounding air can be seriously exceeded in an instant. Once it enters the human body, it may damage the human central nervous system.

Some industry experts believe that with the gradual disappearance of incandescent lamps, my country's annual consumption will reach more than 1 billion. Although technology has continued to improve in recent years, problems such as mercury pollution from energy-saving lamps have been greatly reduced. However, as far as the energy-saving lamps produced in the early stage are concerned, many products are relatively backward due to the original process technology, and problems such as mercury pollution are more prominent.

Lack of recycling channels

Jin Min, director of the Environmental and Economic Management Department of the School of Environment, Renmin University of China, said that the promotion of energy-saving lamps has achieved energy saving and emission reduction, but "it is very energy efficient to use, and there is no way to recover it" has become one of the prominent problems of electronic waste today.

"Economic Information Daily" reporters recently visited Beijing, Wuhan and other places, and found that whether it is a supermarket or a waste recycling station, waste energy-saving lamps are "not given for nothing". The owner of a lighting store in Beijing said that some companies once engaged in public welfare recycling, but they were thought to collect energy-saving lamps for refurbishment and then sell them. The energy-saving lamp recycling box needs to be padded with sponge, and it must be transported carefully. The recycling is purely "losing money"!

The business manager of a lighting company said that the public welfare activities carried out in some large urban communities in the central region often fail to collect a few energy-saving lamps for half a day, and waste energy-saving lamps mixed with debris in trash cans and garbage stations are often seen and are regarded as ordinary. Domestic waste is sent to landfill or incinerated. In desperation, the organizers of the event had to warn the residents not to break the waste energy-saving lamps, not to play with children, and to put a plastic bag and throw them away.

The Shanghai Electronic Waste Trading Center has a set of imported equipment that processes 1,700 tons of waste energy-saving lamps per year, which is very rare in China. In this type of processing line, after the staff wearing protective equipment sends the waste energy-saving lamps into the processing equipment, they are recycled through processes such as crushing and mercury absorption. It is understood that a staff member of the Shanghai Electronic Waste Trading Center is seriously "not enough to eat", mainly relying on some agencies and units to send some waste lamps.