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Generation estimation and material flow analysis of retired mobile phones in China

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Abstract

The generation estimation of retired mobile phones is launched with the sales and new method using the revised sales data and amount of the subscribers. Several assumptions have been made due to the insufficient sources of the data. The sales data of legal mobile phones are calculated with the authoritative and continuous official data. The sales data of smuggled and counterfeit mobile phones in China are also estimated based on the behavior data collected from the questionnaires. The results of generation estimation show that there are 636.52 million mobile phones retired in 2020, compared with 14.44 million in 1999 and several negative values in 2000, 2001, and 2008. The annual total mass of retired mobile phones in China escalated with the contributions of both the increasing generation amount and constant mass of the single unit. There are 50,921.60 ton of mobile phones retired in 2020 compared with 1155.20 ton in 1999, while the peak is 58,131.20 ton in 2019. There are 26,066.80 ton of retired mobile phones are stockpiled in 2020, while 16,152.40 ton and 8702.40 ton of retired mobile phones are reused as a whole unit and recycled, respectively. In the retired mobile phones that are recycled, 4600.50 ton material is recovered and 1216.50 ton components are reused, while 2885.40 ton residues need final disposal. The amount and dynamic characteristics of metals in the retired mobile phones are also calculated. Based on the results, several policy implications are made to improve sustainable management system of retired mobile phones in China.

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Data availability

The datasets used during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors want to show their sincere gratitude for the respected editors and the anonymous referees for their help. We are grateful to the experts and anonymous reviewers for providing helpful suggestions, data reference, and amendment which contribute to improving the quality of this work.

Funding

This research was funded by the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2018YFC1903604-01 and 2019YFC1906101), Sichuan Research Center for Mineral Resources (No. SCKCZY2019-ZD001 and SCKCZY2019-YB005), Innovation Capacity Enhancement Program of Hebei Province (NO. 21553301D), S&T Program of Xingtai (No. 2020ZZ047 and XTSKFZ2021056), and Xingtai Polytechnic College (No. 3020503 and 302031905).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Xingtai Polytechnic College, Xingtai, 054000, People’s Republic of China

    Ang Li, Bo Li & Suxia Hou

  2. State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, People’s Republic of China

    Bin Lu

  3. Institute of Science and Technology for Development of Shandong, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences), Jinan, 250100, People’s Republic of China

    Dong Yang

  4. School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Shanghai Polytechnic University, Shanghai, 201209, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaolong Song

  5. Shanghai Collaborative Innovation Center for WEEE Recycling, Shanghai, 201209, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaolong Song

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  1. Ang Li
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  2. Bo Li
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  4. Dong Yang
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Contributions

AL, BL1 (Bo LI), and XS came up with the original idea for this article; AL collected the data and wrote the paper; BL2 (Bin LU), DY, SH, and XS polished the article. All the authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Bo Li.

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Li, A., Li, B., Lu, B. et al. Generation estimation and material flow analysis of retired mobile phones in China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 75626–75635 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-21153-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-21153-6

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