Recycling Used Home Appliances Secrets and Challenges in the Industry

TapTechNews July 14th news, today the Weibo topic "Recycling used home appliances for a few hundred yuan and refurbishing them to sell for 1500" went viral on Weibo, and as of TapTechNews' release, the related topic ranked 10th on the hot search list with a real-time heat of 4.

TapTechNews inquired about the topic topping and learned that in Haizhu District, Guangzhou City, a large number of waste recyclers sell used home appliances to people who specialize in collecting air conditioners for "factory refurbishment", and air conditioners that sell for more than 1000 yuan on "a certain e-commerce platform" are mostly refurbished machines.

It is known that there has long been an invisible industrial chain in the market, and such "refurbished machines" are an open secret in the industry. It is said that "some used air conditioners are bought back by unscrupulous merchants for a few hundred yuan and sold for 1500 yuan after refurbishment".

In addition to air conditioners, products such as washing machines and televisions are also prone to "stepping on mines". Referring to the report, Ms. Xu, who lives in Zhengzhou, Henan, bought a Haier washing machine with a label stating "produced in August 2021" on a second-hand platform in February 2023. When she got home, she found out that the label was forged, and the equipment was actually produced in 2010. Later, Ms. Xu went through many difficulties to safeguard her rights and finally got a refund with the seller under the coordination of the local police station.

In April this year, the action plan for promoting the replacement of consumer goods with old ones jointly formulated by 14 departments including the Ministry of Commerce proposed that by 2025, the recycling volume of used home appliances would increase by 15% compared to 2023; by 2027, the recycling volume of used home appliances would increase by 30% compared to 2023. However, at present, the regular recycling system for used home appliances still needs to be further improved, and the chain between regular disassembly factories and the recycling system for used home appliances also needs to be further connected.