Perspectives on reuse of WEEE in China: Lessons from the EU

Reuse is always considered superior to materials and energy recovery in the waste hierarchy, a concept that also applies to Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE). In practice, however, reuse has not been a commonly used end-of-life option. We compared policies and practices of reuse of WEEE in China and in the EU. This comparison can help identify knowledge gaps and reuse policy requirements, as well as implementation methods We also discuss potential scientific solutions for reuse of WEEE via analysis of stakeholders' concerns. We found that although there are already reuse-related guidelines and standards in China, the policies need to be made more systematic like those of the EU, and they need to be more suitable for the specific challenges of China. We propose$ policy recommendations for reuse in order to facilitate sustainable management of WEEE, including integration of a reuse strategy into current management policy as well as the promotion of components reuse. Further, we also found that more studies on drivers and barriers to reuse are required to support more effective and efficient management.