Large shipments of mobile phones in China have lately led to an accumulation of many used handsets, emphasizing the country's lack of an effective recycling system.

Statistics from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology showed that China's total mobile phone shipments reached 560 million units in 2016. The number of devices replaced annually is expected to hit between 400 and 500 million units. One billion units of idle, unrecycled mobile phones currently exist in China, posing a massive challenge to effective and timely recycling.

Smartphone components such as plastic covering, lithium batteries, circuit boards and LED screens all contain toxic materials that could threaten both the environment and people's health if not handled appropriately. However, a large number of devices fail to get recycled through proper channels each year. Some are even sold to unauthorized buyers, and go on to pollute the urban environment.

China's recycling rate stands at just 1 to 2 percent, far lower than that of Europe and the U.S. President of the C2B recycling platform, Zheng Fujiang, attributed these low numbers to insufficient consumer awareness and information security risks.

Zheng Qing, assistant to the general manager of Shanghai Xin Jinqiao Environmental Protection, noted that the dismantling of mobile phones comes with a high labor cost, and hazardous waste treatment is also expensive. Zheng said many recycling enterprises expect the government to offer subsidies.

Zheng told Economic Information Daily that high recycling profits and low dismantling profits are a major industry contradiction. She hopes that China will issue detailed regulations on the disposal of used mobile phones as soon as possible, so that dismantling enterprises can improve their economic performance.