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: the subsidy is available only to processors holding a waste electrical and electronic products processing qualification certificate and listed in the e-waste dismantling and disposal directory; volume is declared annually on a standardised basis, the 2026 threshold is at least 800,000 units or sets of standardised dismantling, and funds are allocated by a factor method after provincial review, ministerial re-check and public notice.

1. Qualification Comes Before the Application

The subsidy is not a universal grant. It only reaches processors inside the regulated system. Three things must be confirmed before applying: the processing qualification certificate is within its validity period and the categories it names cover the categories being declared; the company is listed in the e-waste dismantling and disposal directory; and environmental formalities such as the pollutant discharge permit are complete. The legal basis for the qualification is the Regulation on the Recovery and Treatment of Waste Electrical and Electronic Products, and because approval is granted category by category, the categories on the certificate are the ceiling for what may be declared.

If any one of the three is missing, the file is returned at the preliminary review. The most common failure in practice is a mismatch between certificate categories and declared categories — for example, a certificate covering several large appliance types while small appliance volume is folded into the same declaration. Such data is stripped out during re-check.

2. Volume Is Counted on a Standardised Basis

Funds are allocated against standardised dismantling volume, not volume received at the gate. Standardised means the dismantling process met environmental requirements, output destinations are traceable and data can be verified. Assessment usually looks at four layers: whether the dismantling ledger records every unit, whether production areas keep video records, whether output sales and transfer documents match, and whether weighing records are continuous.

These four layers corroborate each other. If the ledger claims a thousand units but the video shows production of only three hundred, the difference is hard to sustain. Output documents matter equally: if the scrap circuit boards removed were not delivered to a licensed unit, the standardised status of the whole batch is called into question.

3. The Five Stages of Application

The process starts with a call for applications issued by the provincial ecology and environment department, and the company files as required. Stage two is preliminary review of documents, focused on consistency between the qualification certificate, the ledger and the supporting vouchers. Stage three is determination of dismantling volume, which may involve desk review and an on-site check. Stage four is re-check and public notice, open to public scrutiny. Stage five is disbursement according to the determined result.

Timing at each stage is set by the competent authority; what a company controls is the quality of its documents. A continuous ledger, complete vouchers and retrievable video make verification smooth. Assembling materials at short notice rarely works.

4. Documents to Prepare

  • Qualification documents — processing qualification certificate, directory listing proof and pollutant discharge permit, with validity dates checked. The certificate number and validity period must match digit for digit; Jinyeep Environmental's processing certificate, for example, carries the number E1310261 and runs to 8 January 2027, and the one risk in a cross-year application is that validity lapses first.
  • Dismantling ledger — unit-by-unit entries by category, covering source, number of units, weight and dismantling date.
  • Process records — video retention at key workstations, retrievable by time range.
  • Output vouchers — recycled material sales contracts, hazardous waste transfer manifests for scrap circuit boards, and disposal vouchers for hazardous waste.
  • Financial records — receipts and payments matching the ledger, used to corroborate that transactions were real.

5. How the Money Is Divided: Factor Method and the Real Gap

Funds are distributed as a reward in place of subsidy using a factor method. Standardised recovery and processing volume carries 70% of the allocation weight; the remaining factors include processing capacity and environmental investment. Two qualified companies can therefore receive different amounts, depending on assessed volume and their scores on each factor.

A second practical issue is the time lag. Dismantling happens first and the subsidy follows, so processors must fund dismantling costs and environmental investment themselves. Smaller companies with tight cash flow often cannot survive the waiting period, which is one reason industry concentration keeps rising.

6. Practical Notes

  • Check certificate validity and category scope at the start of each year so qualification does not lapse across a reporting year.
  • Record the ledger the same day, not at month end, and keep video retention covering the whole reporting year.
  • Archive output vouchers as each batch leaves the plant, indexed by category.
  • Run an internal mock verification before applying, focusing on unit-count differences between ledger and vouchers.
  • Watch the provincial notice for deadlines and have documents ready a month ahead.