China Resources Recycling Group Co., Ltd. recently announced that the mobile phone safe recycling and disposal demonstration project has successfully completed trial operation and has opened mobile phone safe recycling and disposal services to provincial capital cities across the country. With the continuous increase in the popularity of smartphones and the acceleration of their replacement speed in China, the number of discarded mobile phones is experiencing explosive growth. According to data from the China Circular Economy Association, China adds over 400 million new discarded mobile phones annually. As a central enterprise and regarded as a "national team", what impact will the participation of China Resources and Environment Group in the recycling of used mobile phones have on the market? How to break through the market for recycling used mobile phones? The attractiveness of the waste mobile phone recycling market has increased. At the China Information and Environmental Protection Group's mobile phone safety recycling and centralized disposal base located in Guiyu Town, Shantou City, Guangdong Province, with the rapid rotation of electric screwdrivers and other tools, in just a few seconds, the staff can dismantle the cameras, screens, batteries, and circuit boards from the waste mobile phones. The circuit boards will be mechanically crushed on the conveyor belt and sent to the pyrometallurgical smelting workshop for melting and disposal in batches. Mobile phones are rich in metals such as copper, gold, silver, nickel, tin, as well as plastics, glass, etc. A large amount of discarded mobile phones are recycled and reused, which has enormous economic and ecological value. Industry insiders estimate that its market value is nearly 100 billion yuan. At present, it has attracted many enterprises and individuals to enter the market. Recently, the reporter saw a customer at a second-hand mobile phone recycling store in a supermarket in Binhai New Area, Tianjin, who came to sell an old phone. On average, more than 10 customers sell their phones every day, and this gentleman is already placing an order for the second time, "said the staff at the recycling store. In addition to many street side mobile phone sales and repair shops launching mobile phone recycling services, some online second-hand trading platforms also participate in mobile phone recycling. It is understood that the current domestic market has formed second-hand mobile phone recycling platforms such as Zhuanzhuan, Xianyu, Aihui, Shanhui, and Tongchengbang. Taking Xianyu as an example, after entering the recycling page, users can participate in the recycling by submitting their phone information, model, and age level. Wang Dannan, the public relations officer of Xianyu Business, said that the circular order volume of Xianyu mobile digital will increase by about 20% year-on-year in 2024. Professor Zhu Nengwu from the School of Environment and Energy at South China University of Technology stated that establishing a comprehensive mobile phone recycling system is expected to achieve an annual resource recycling capacity of approximately 60000 tons of metals, 80000 tons of plastics, and 40000 tons of glass, providing important raw material guarantees for the green transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry and high-quality development. What bottlenecks are facing? Lightning (Guangdong) Environmental Recycling Technology Co., Ltd. is an enterprise engaged in the full category recycling and disposal of urban waste. General Manager Wu Yifan said, "Consumers are generally concerned about the data leakage of old mobile phones. Even if the factory settings are restored, there is still a risk of recovering sensitive information through technological means." Compared with traditional recycling of used mobile phones, paying more attention to data privacy and security is a major focus of China Information and Environmental Protection Group's mobile phone recycling and disposal business. Liao Huanle, the person in charge of the mobile phone safety recycling and disposal project of China Resources and Environment Group, introduced that the group has deep cooperation with China Post Express Logistics, which has opened up a safe recycling and circulation path. The entire process of mobile phone recycling, circulation, disassembly, and breakage is visualized, monitored, and traceable. The reporter learned in the interview that the entry of the "national team" has indeed dispelled some consumers' concerns about mobile phone information security, but there are still some bottlenecks to fundamentally activate the market for recycling used mobile phones. The most prominent issue is that there is a gap between the price of recycling used mobile phones and the psychological expectations of many consumers, which affects their enthusiasm for participating in the recycling of used mobile phones. I bought a phone for five or six thousand yuan, and now the recycling price is only a few hundred yuan. It's better to keep it at home as a 'spare phone' Consumer Li Fang from Ningbo said. Liao Huanle analyzed that there is no standard for the sales price of used mobile phones in the market, and consumers have high valuation expectations. The willingness to dispose of used mobile phones is influenced by multiple factors such as disposal mode and recycling price. At the same time, there are significant differences in the testing methods and pricing standards for waste products among different enterprises. In the trade in promotion, the recycling prices offered by different merchants for the same phone may vary greatly, "said Wu Yifan. In addition, the network system for recycling used mobile phones is not yet perfect. At present, there are many enterprises and individuals engaged in the recycling of used mobile phones nationwide, but the coverage of offline outlets is still insufficient. Mobile phone recycling services in small and medium-sized cities are mainly provided by street vendors and wandering vendors, with small recycling scales and scattered mobile phone flows after recycling. Wang Junfeng, director of the Research Center for Circular Economy and Low Carbon Development at Nankai University, said that the recycling and utilization of used mobile phones in China is still in its early stages, and a complete network system for recycling, classification, transportation, processing, and utilization has not yet been formed. How to stimulate market potential? Currently, the government is continuously increasing its support for environmental protection industries and trade in policies, creating a favorable policy environment for the development of the waste mobile phone recycling market. Many companies have also seized policy opportunities to further tap into the potential of the waste mobile phone recycling market. Some second-hand trading platforms have expanded the number of offline recycling stores, established an "online+offline" recycling network, and increased business exposure through various forms such as commercial advertising and cross platform cross-border cooperation, fully tapping into market potential. China Resources and Environment Corporation stated that it has upgraded the "Chip Worry Free" mini program for mobile phone safety recycling and disposal projects. In addition to opening it to provincial capital cities across the country, it has also opened a large-scale entrance for recycling used mobile phones, further integrating upstream and downstream resources, improving user reach, enhancing recycling efficiency, and reducing recycling logistics costs. To better stimulate the potential of the waste mobile phone recycling market, it is necessary to further strengthen data security protection. If there is no professional, standardized, and in-depth privacy data removal during the recycling process of used mobile phones, there may be a risk of privacy leakage. Liao Huanle said that a unified standard covering the entire process of mobile privacy removal software, privacy removal process, and post privacy removal authentication should be established as soon as possible. Liao Huanle also suggested promoting the establishment of a unified industry valuation standard, reducing users' concerns about "price pressure", achieving price transparency, and increasing users' willingness to recycle through value incentives; At the same time, by innovating practices such as "trade in", "green points", and "carbon point incentives", we can increase public participation and guide them to participate in recycling. Zhu Nengwu believes that the standard system for waste electronic products, including mobile phones, should be improved, key bottlenecks should be overcome, a recycling system that can adapt to the market demand for resource recycling should be established, and a full chain process management from waste to products should be formed. Wu Yifan stated that the recycling of used mobile phones is of great significance in promoting resource recycling, environmental protection, and green low-carbon development. He believes that more and more capital and enterprises will enter this field, further stimulating the potential of the waste electronic product recycling market. (New Society)