This is the English edition. The article body below is the publisher's English rendering of the original Chinese article; figures, license numbers and institutional names follow the original.

In one sentence: dismantling output is separated into iron, copper, aluminium, plastics, glass and scrap circuit boards; metals go to steel mills and secondary metal smelters, plastics go to pelletising or downgraded uses, leaded glass and mercury-containing components go to licensed disposal, and scrap circuit boards follow the hazardous waste channel for copper and precious metal recovery.

1. Output Is Not a Pile of Scrap

Open a device and what comes out divides into several streams by material property. The finer the separation, the higher the purity and price of each stream; without it, the whole lot sells as mixed material at a low price. Much of the value of a properly equipped dismantling line shows up in how finely it sorts.

  • Ferrous metals — casings, brackets, compressor shells, mainly iron with some alloy steel.
  • Non-ferrous metals — copper wire, aluminium foil, heat exchangers, motor windings; high unit value, high sorting demands.
  • Plastics — ABS, PS, PP and others, which must be separated by grade before pelletising.
  • Glass — leaded CRT glass and LCD panel glass follow entirely different disposal routes.
  • Scrap circuit boards — hazardous waste, to be utilised or disposed of by a licensed unit.

2. Metals: Steel Mills and Secondary Smelters

Scrap steel has the most direct destination: baled and compacted, it goes to steelmakers as furnace feed. Mills set grade requirements, and copper or aluminium contamination damages the melt, so dismantling plants must pick non-ferrous metals out before shipment or face weight deductions and rejection.

Scrap copper and aluminium go through secondary metal channels. Copper wire and tube are stripped and baled for copper smelting or direct use in copper fabrication; aluminium parts are shredded, magnetically de-ironed and melted into ingots. This stream is the main source of dismantling revenue, and both price and shipment timing follow metal markets.

3. Plastics and Glass: High Volume, Low Value

Plastics make up a large share of output by volume but carry little value. Sorted by grade they can be pelletised into recycled granules for injection moulders; mixed plastics can only be downgraded into low-specification wood-plastic composites, pallets or energy recovery.

Glass has two very different fates. The funnel glass of CRT televisions contains lead oxide and needs dedicated disposal; it cannot be mixed into ordinary glass recycling. LCD panel glass contains liquid crystal mixtures and coatings, and must be handled so that it does not disperse as dust when broken. Both lack high-value downstream outlets, so disposal is usually a net cost.

4. Circuit Boards and Precious Metals: The Hazardous Waste Channel

Scrap circuit boards are not ordinary scrap. Under the National Catalogue of Hazardous Wastes (2025 edition) they fall under HW49, other wastes, code 900-045-49, and must be collected, stored and utilised by a unit holding a hazardous waste operating licence. Article 80 of the Solid Waste Pollution Prevention and Control Law makes this a statutory duty, and unlicensed collection, storage or utilisation carries fines from one million to five million yuan.

Licensed units recover copper by shredding, separation and metallurgy, then refine gold, silver, palladium and other precious metals. This is the highest value-added step and the highest barrier: it needs dedicated utilisation facilities, flue gas treatment and a discharge permit, which an ordinary dismantling plant cannot provide. Approved scope is far narrower than a business licence — licence 1310250101 covers only the collection, storage and utilisation of scrap circuit boards, no more.

5. What Proves Where Output Went

Materials leaving the gate need documentary support. Metal and plastic sales have contracts, weighbridge tickets and invoices; scrap circuit boards have hazardous waste transfer manifests; leaded glass and mercury-containing components have disposal agreements and acceptance vouchers. Only when these documents chain together does a complete destination trail exist. Temporary storage has its own technical baseline: GB 18597—2023, the standard for pollution control on hazardous waste storage, sets requirements for packaging, zoning, seepage prevention and labelling, and manifest numbers must reconcile with the storage ledger.

Supervisory checks look at exactly this chain: how many units were dismantled, how many tonnes of output were produced, who bought them, and whether the buyer is qualified. Any missing link puts the compliance of the whole batch in question, affecting both subsidy assessment and audit traceability.

6. Practical Notes

  • Keep an output ledger by material, recording weight, destination and carrier for each batch.
  • Sample composition before shipping metal so that contamination does not trigger weight deductions.
  • Separate plastics by grade and label them clearly instead of sorting at the gate.
  • Deliver scrap circuit boards only to licensed units, with manifests travelling with the load and a copy retained.
  • Store leaded glass and mercury-containing components separately, never mixed with ordinary glass.