Data shows that in the past five years, China has generated an average of over 400 million discarded mobile phones annually; During the 14th Five Year Plan period, the total number of idle mobile phones is expected to reach 6 billion. The vast inventory provides a broad space for the mobile phone recycling market. However, the second-hand mobile phone industry is currently facing problems such as a lack of standardization in the trading market, an incomplete standard system, and a lack of user trust. Only a small proportion of idle phones can enter professional waste phone recycling platforms, "trade in" activities, and other recycling channels. Where have all the old phones gone? Where is the recycling bottleneck card? How to promote the standardized and healthy development of the recycling industry? As a key task of the "Consumer Promotion Year", exchanging old for new consumer goods has become one of the hot topics this year. After the "rejuvenation" of consumer goods, the issue of recycling and disposal of a large number of old products, especially electronic products such as mobile phones, has also attracted much attention. In recent years, with the acceleration of the update and iteration speed of smartphones, a large number of old phones have been eliminated or idle by users. According to a research report by Zhongyan Puhua, the total number of idle mobile phones in China is expected to reach 6 billion during the 14th Five Year Plan period; Penguin Think Tank estimates that the hidden value of second-hand mobile phones in China exceeds 600 billion yuan. The huge base has created enormous supply and development space for the mobile phone recycling market. After years of development, China's mobile phone recycling industry has entered a period of development opportunities, with various recycling platforms and models constantly emerging. However, at the same time, the mobile phone recycling market still faces problems such as an incomplete standard system, insufficient comprehensive processing capabilities, and a lack of user trust, which urgently need to be regulated for development. How to utilize the resource value of discarded mobile phones, avoid the risks and hidden dangers they bring, and promote high-quality development of the industry? Recently, reporters conducted a visit and investigation on this matter. Market space needs to be tapped, according to industry insiders. Currently, the main destinations for recycling used mobile phones are resale and environmental degradation. High quality and undamaged phones can be sold directly as second-hand phones; Disassemble parts with poor quality and severe damage or partial functional damage, or sell them after refurbishment; Severely damaged or outdated recycled materials are directly used to extract metal resources. The standardized treatment of discarded mobile phones is of great significance in promoting green, low-carbon and circular development. According to calculations, each second-hand mobile phone transaction can achieve a carbon reduction of about 25 kilograms. Guo Zhanqiang, Secretary General of the China Circular Economy Association, stated that the association has conducted visits and research on the second-hand mobile phone recycling and sales market. Currently, the average lifespan of a mobile phone is around 2.2 years. In the past five years, China has generated an average of over 400 million used mobile phones annually. However, only about 10% of them have entered new recycling channels such as second-hand idle platforms for recycling, and more than half of them are idle at home. In recent years, due to significant improvements in the quality and durability of smartphones, as well as changes in consumer habits, many users are willing to purchase second-hand smartphones from widely recognized brands in the market. College student Xu Gang told reporters with his newly purchased iPhone 14 that "phones that are over 95% new are about 2000 yuan cheaper than brand new phones, and have a high cost performance ratio. The "Public Action Manual for Recycling and Utilization of Used Mobile Phones" released by the China Circular Economy Association points out that promoting the circulation and trading of second-hand mobile phones can provide economic compensation for individual users, and for society, in addition to environmental and resource benefits, the recycling and trading of second-hand mobile phones also have huge economic benefits. With considerable profits and a vast market, more and more companies are joining this track. In recent years, recycling enterprises such as idle fish, Zhuanzhuan, Aishou, Huibao, and Tongchenggang have taken advantage of the Internet to break through the information barrier between users and enterprises and promote the recycling and resale of idle mobile phones. In addition, mobile phone brands and sales channels are also promoting the development of the mobile phone recycling market, encouraging users to sell old phones through strategies such as trade in. We guarantee that all second-hand phones we recycle can be sold directly, with an average price of over 1000 yuan Zheng Liqun, CEO of Tongchengbang, told reporters that from the perspective of platform transactions, users who purchase second-hand phones have different preferences, but overall recognition is high. Zhang Pu, the operation director of Xianyu digital electronics industry, said that, relying on the "Internet plus+recycling" model, Xianyu provides mobile phone digital users with door-to-door recycling, store recycling, mail recycling and other services. Among them, door-to-door recycling covers 100 cities, and can achieve face-to-face quality inspection and collection. In the past year, the Xianyu platform has seen a growth trend in multiple categories of recurring orders. Among them, the number of recurring orders generated by mobile phones increased by 17% year-on-year. In terms of population, users and young people in the eastern region are the main force of idle circulation transactions, with over 65% of young people under the age of 35. At the "Fruit Powder Master" store in Beijing Daxing Greenland Colorful City Shopping Center, reporters saw second-hand phones labeled with brand models, condition, and other information neatly stacked in display cabinets. The store staff told reporters, 'For second-hand phones, we have our own recycling evaluation standards and also use some professional second-hand platform mini programs for evaluation. High quality second-hand phones will be sold directly, and those that cannot be sold anymore will be sent to the headquarters for unified processing.'. In addition to recycling platforms, some mobile phone brands are also an important part of the second-hand mobile phone circulation process, and many businesses seek opportunities to expand sales through trade in. Liu Xiaojun, ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) Director of Honor Terminal Co., Ltd., stated that in 2023, the company recycled hundreds of thousands of devices, and from a trend perspective, this number is still growing. "We also encourage users to actively participate in trade in programs in daily sales, allowing idle phones to fully realize their value. At a Huawei store in Beijing, a salesperson told reporters that when selling new phones, users are encouraged to trade in their old phones for new ones. The recycling price of old phones will refer to the evaluation standards of the cooperative platform. If users agree, they can exchange them on the spot, while the old phones will be recycled by the cooperative platform. In the past two years, the number of consumers participating in the trade in program at the store has continued to increase. Wang Yongliang, CEO of Wanwu Xinsheng Group (Love Recycling), believes that "unlike the high market penetration rate of second-hand houses and cars, the second-hand mobile phone industry started relatively late in China and is still a low penetration industry. Many second-hand devices are idle and have not entered the recycling and re circulation channels, and there are still a large number of blank markets waiting to be explored. In March of this year, the State Council issued the "Action Plan for Promoting Large scale Equipment Renewal and Consumer Goods Trade in", which clearly proposed to improve the recycling network of waste products and equipment, accelerate the development of the "trade in+recycling" logistics system and new models; Support the circulation and trading of second-hand goods, and promote the standardization of second-hand electronic product transactions. Industry insiders say that this policy will further stimulate the expansion of the second-hand mobile phone market, and trade in will become an important driving force for the development of the second-hand mobile phone recycling market. There are still bottlenecks in the recycling system, and compared to the number of mobile phones in stock and scrap rate, China's mobile phone recycling rate is still relatively low. Wang Yongliang's analysis pointed out that the traditional second-hand mobile phone market is mainly operated by individuals, with relatively scattered recycling channels and a large space for improving circulation efficiency. For users, due to information asymmetry in the recycling process, lack of unified quality inspection and pricing standards, time-consuming and laborious bargaining, coupled with concerns about data security, privacy breaches, etc., users have a low willingness to recycle. In Zheng Liqun's view, the biggest obstacle to the healthy development of the second-hand mobile phone industry is the expulsion of good money by bad money. For example, some "scalpers" use unfair competition methods to acquire and sell second-hand mobile phones, which interferes with the normal market order and cannot guarantee the privacy and security of users. Due to the inability to verify the source of the mobile phone, the user's property risk has also increased accordingly. Although many "regular soldiers" have joined this track in recent years, there are still many pain points in second-hand mobile phone transactions. Due to the non standardized nature of transactions, there is a gap in information between buyers and sellers, and some channels of transactions are opaque, making it difficult to establish trust. From a business perspective, although second-hand business is good, it is a slow and difficult business, "said Huang Wei, CEO of Zhuanzhuan Group. Liu Xiaojun said that currently, some users have a shallow understanding of mobile phone recycling, and many old phone holders are "unwilling to sell", with only a small portion of users choosing to recycle on the platform or exchange old for new. The reporter randomly interviewed more than 10 users who purchased new phones at a branded mobile phone store located in a large shopping mall. When asked whether they were ready to resell their old phones, only two of them stated that they had put their phones on the Zhuanzhuan, Xianyu, and JD recycling platforms respectively. Yang Yang, a user in his 40s, told reporters that his family has already saved more than 10 used mobile phones. "It's too troublesome to send them specifically to offline recycling points, and online transactions also require packaging and express delivery. In the end, they can't sell for much money, so I'm really lazy to tinker with them. On the Black Cat complaint platform, as many as tens of thousands of complaints about second-hand mobile phones are concentrated on inconsistencies between testing reports and actual product conditions. For example, buying a flawless second-hand phone, but after professional equipment testing, minor defects appear, or the actual transaction price of a used phone differs significantly from the estimated price in advance. After testing, the reporter's old phone was evaluated for a recycling price of 810 yuan on the Zhuanzhuan mini program, while it was only 575 yuan when evaluated on-site by the store staff in the offline store. Regarding the issue of price difference, He Jiahuan, the manager of the Beijing West Railway Camp store of Zhuanzhuan Group, said, "Offline stores detected slight scratches on the edges and cameras of mobile phones using Blu ray devices, which affected the valuation." Several interviewed enterprise staff explained that when users make their own estimates, it is difficult to see some minor scratches due to the lack of professional tools, and scratches are an important factor affecting mobile phone valuation. Liu Yuanju, a researcher at the Shanghai Institute of Finance and Law, said that there are various types of mobile phone models with significant differences in configuration. Non standard second-hand products are even more complex, making it difficult for users to judge the quality. Establishing a mature identification system is crucial for optimizing the process of second-hand mobile phone recycling. For example, Zhuanzhuan has launched an "official verification" service to conduct strict quality inspections on mobile phones. Based on factors such as functionality and condition, the degree of newness of the phone is determined, and a quality inspection report is issued, ultimately providing a reasonable market pricing. Compared to the bottlenecks and risks in the transaction process, data security and privacy protection are more concerning issues for many users. Yang Yang told reporters that most of the idle phones at home contain important photos, contact lists, chat records on social media platforms, transaction records on shopping platforms, etc. "If these private information cannot be completely cleared, I am worried it will cause trouble for myself and my family. Xu Feng is a domestic brand mobile phone user who changes his phone on average every 2 years. "My old and abandoned mobile phones are all idle at home. Every time I change a new mobile phone, there are always some materials and data that cannot be completely copied to the new phone, and some fragmented information may also cause privacy security risks." For the fragmented information in the mobile phone, Zheng Liqun, who has five years of experience in data recovery, explained, "For example, there is a ID number number stored in one place and a mobile phone number stored in another place in the mobile phone. These two information are useless when viewed separately, but if combined, they may be used to obtain the user's bank account password. So when we smash the privacy data of second-hand mobile phones, we will crush the fragmented information indiscriminately". Xu Guangjian, professor of the Institute of Public Finance and Public Policy, School of Public Management, Renmin University of China, believes that nowadays, mobile phones are not only a communication tool, but also related to users' financial, identity and other information. If information security issues can be regulated, the second-hand mobile phone market will have a huge potential