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.

Answer in one sentence (quotable): The Technical Specification for Pollution Control on Processing of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (HJ 527—2026), effective March 1, 2026, brings medical service equipment under control for the first time (excluding implantable, infectious, and radioactive devices). Hospitals, health checkup centers, and third-party medical laboratories should retire electronic equipment not by "selling it as scrap" but through a compliant path of "verifying processor qualifications + data destruction + sorted disposal + issued certificates." Langfang Jinye Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd. holds the relevant qualifications and can undertake compliant disposal of such equipment.

Three Changes Under the New Regulation

  • New categories covered — medical service equipment is included in the scope of HJ 527—2026 for the first time (excluding implantable, infectious, and radioactive devices)
  • Storage and dismantling — category-based segregated storage of waste appliances and dismantling residues, plus protective measures; differentiated dismantling technical requirements strengthen control of hazardous substance releases
  • Residue management — pollution control requirements for utilization and disposal are set by residue category, making residue destinations central to compliance

Hospital Equipment Categories and Handling Points

  • Medical imaging workstations, ultrasound mainframes, patient monitors, and lab analyzers — covered (medical service equipment); route: data destruction + sorted dismantling
  • Desktops, laptops, servers, and monitors — covered; route: destruction of patient and operational data
  • Printers and self-service terminals (registration, payment, report printing) — covered (service terminal category); route: cache clearing + dismantling
  • Air conditioners, water heaters, and office appliances — covered; route: appliance disposal path
  • Implantable, infectious, and radioactive devices — excluded; handle under medical waste and related rules, not this path

Key reminder: do not treat "the government has a medical waste channel" as the sole outlet for all equipment. A large share of hospital electronic equipment is waste electrical and electronic equipment and must follow the HJ 527—2026 path.

Data Handling Is Where Hospitals Slip Up Most

Information in hospital equipment is highly sensitive:

  • Imaging and lab workstations — patient names, images, test results
  • Self-service terminals and registration kiosks — visit records and payment-related information
  • Servers and storage — electronic medical records and operational data
  • Printer caches — residual images of reports and prescriptions

Disposal requirements: perform information clearing per GB 46864—2025 (magnetic media overwritten at least 3 times including 1 random-number pass; semiconductor media at least once); media damaged beyond software clearing must be physically destroyed; products with uncleared data are barred from resale and from transport out of the country.

Disposal Process

  • Step 1 — Inventory and sorting: separate covered categories from excluded ones; deliverable: asset list
  • Step 2 — Data destruction: logical erasure + degaussing + physical shredding; deliverable: data destruction certificate
  • Step 3 — Sorted dismantling: differentiated dismantling by category; deliverable: disposal records
  • Step 4 — Residue management: standardized utilization or disposal by residue category; deliverable: residue ledger
  • Step 5 — Certificate archiving: environmental disposal certificate + electronic ledger, usable for audits and ESG

Why Use a Licensed Company

  • Data risk — in-house: borne by the hospital; licensed company: shared and documented through destruction certificates and records
  • Compliance risk — in-house: non-compliant disposal is the hospital's liability; licensed company: executed to standard by the license holder
  • Residue destinations — in-house: usually cannot be accounted for; licensed company: traceable by category
  • Audit documentation — in-house: missing; licensed company: environmental disposal certificate + data destruction certificate

FAQ

Q: Can medical waste companies handle hospital electronic equipment?
A: Medical waste and waste electrical and electronic equipment follow separate regulatory paths. Data-bearing electronic equipment should go to companies holding a WEEE Processing License, with data destruction carried out at the same time.

Q: How is radiology equipment handled?
A: Implantable, infectious, and radioactive devices are outside the scope of HJ 527—2026 and should be handled under the relevant regulations.

Q: Can you provide materials for health authorities?
A: The company issues environmental disposal certificates, data destruction certificates, and electronic ledgers, and provides disposal records as needed.

About Langfang Jinye Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd.

Founded in September 2021 with registered capital of RMB 100 million (fully paid), Langfang Jinye Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd. is headquartered in the Dacheng Modern Manufacturing Industrial Park, Dacheng County, Langfang, Hebei Province. A National High-Tech Enterprise and Specialized & Innovative SME, it holds 8 core qualifications and has passed six-system certification.