TCL Group: Continuously upgrading home appliance recycling system to build green recycling industry

Company profile
 
TCL Corporation, a business conglomerate focused on global scale smart product manufacture and Internet application services, is listed as a whole on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, and it includes four listed subsidiary companies: TCL Multimedia Technology, TCL Communication Technology, Tonly Electronics and TCL Display Technology. In 2015，Highly Information is listed on the New OTC Market.
 
TCL Corporation was founded in 1981. Its predecessor -- TTK Home Appliances (Huizhou) Co., Ltd., was one of 13 initial joint ventures in China, engaged in production of recording tapes. Subsequently, its business was expanded in the following fields such as telephone, TV, mobile phone, refrigerator, washing machine, air conditioner, small appliances and LCD panel. TCL Corporation currently has 75,000 employees, 23 research institutes and 21 manufacturing bases. It has set up sales offices in over 80 countries and regions, with its business covering more than 160 countries and regions in the world.
 
Challenges
 
Electronic products, while enriching and facilitating people’s life, also create a large number of e-waste. According to the United Nations Environment Program, the global annual production of e-waste is about 50 million tons, but the recycling rate is only about 10%, which also shows that the home appliance recycling problem not only plagues China but also troubles the world.
 
The composition of e-waste is extremely complex, with dual attributes of resource and environmental pollution. On the one hand, it contains more than 50% metal, and over 20% plastic and other valuable components, for which it is easily turned from waste to treasure. On the other hand, these electronic products contain heavy metals lead, mercury, cadmium and persistent organic pollutants. If they are handled improperly, they will not only result in a huge waste of resources, but also generate new high-risk pollutants, which have adverse impacts on the environment and human health. Therefore, how to recover e-waste has become a problem for the sustainable development of home appliance industry.
 
Solutions
 
With the rapid development of industry, the amount of waste is increasing with the rapid growth and the types have become increasingly complex with larger ration of hazardous waste. In this context, TCL has seen the management of waste as an important part of environmental protection during the production process. By adhering to the concept of green production, TCL reduces the waste by developing management policies, establishing recycling companies and conducting multi-party cooperation.
 
TCL sets up an advanced environmental protection company. Since June 2009, TCL has begun home appliance recycling. TCL-AOBO Protection and Development Co., Ltd. is one of its efforts, whose Phase I investment reached 300 million yuan. It introduced process equipment and 16 production lines with international advanced level, handling 100,000 tons (300 million units) of household appliances and electrical appliances each year. The utilization rates of every 100,000 tons’ waste home appliances (Regeneration of iron, copper, aluminum and other available substances) reached to 90%, reaching the world advanced level.
 
By the use of big data, Baidu Recycle Bin project was launched to promote home appliances recycling business. On August 18, 2014, TCL and Baidu jointly developed “Baidu Recycle Bin” project. With convenient mobile phone and internet, the project achieved efficient recycling of waste appliances, creating a new "O2O value chain of green home appliances cycle". Through continuous promotion and application of Baidu old home appliances recycling project, TCL makes use of mobile Internet to provide the users on-site recycling services, which expands a new green recycling channels, promotes a comprehensive upgrade of the industrial chain, and fully reuses the resources. In 2016, TCL had been developed 80 Baidu Recycle Bin business, and had been added 80 recycling stations in the Northeast China, Hebei, Shandong, Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan and other regions.
 
Digital recycling service was launched by using Internet Plus. In order to keep up with the trend of Internet Plus and to facilitate the convenience of digital recycling, TCL creates shifendaojia to provide home installation and appliances maintenance service, and especially introduces digital recycling services on the website to recover digital products. By guarantee recycling efficiency in many ways, like speed payment within 24 hours, the turnover rate of quick home recycling mode reaches 95%.
 
Achievement
 
Social benefit
 
TCL achieves re-use of resources and reduces carbon emissions. In TCL-AOBO (Tianjin) Protection and Development Co., Ltd，a standardized and large-scale processing system will be used to deal with these waste home appliances and electronic products. The resource recycling rate can reach more than 90% after this process. According to the above indicators, the project can reduce 327,000 tons of industrial wastes and 6,440 tons of sulfur dioxide emissions, all of which will save about 24,800 tons of standard coal.
 
TCL avoids the negative environment pollution caused by the improper handling of old home appliances. Electronic waste dismantling process based on family workshop style had discharged waste gas, liquid and residue for a long time, which causes serious pollution to atmosphere, soil and water, and endangers human health. TCL home appliance recycling project offers people convenience, increases numbers of old home appliances flowing into formal dismantling enterprises and reduce the numbers that go into individual dismantling households, so as to avoid improper handling of individual dismantling making negative impact to the environment.
 
Economic benefit
 
TCL home appliance recycling project has brought obvious economic benefits to TCL and enhanced its green competitiveness. According to statistics, TCL-AOBO annually handles 100,000 tons solid waste, like waste household appliances and computers. It’s expected to produce 37,840 tons of steel, 3,220 tons of copper, 2,374 tons of aluminum, and 30,000 tons of plastic.
 
TCL recycling centers are now all over the world, and have been built an online and off- line waste home appliances recycling system. In 2016, TCL established a number of public ecological institutions in Europe to actively recycle electronic equipment in 13 countries. A total of 877.3 tons electronic products was recycled, accounting for about 10% of total shipments.
 
Prospect
 
In the future, the number of electronic products and household appliances will increase greatly. The improper handling of waste electrical appliances often lead to environmental pollution and waste of resources, and it is a threat to human health and safety. In the face of such a trend, TCL, as one of the most influential consumer electronics companies in China, will adhere to the spirit of "goals and beliefs, team and coordination, action and execution, tenacity and breakthrough", make continuous innovation and continue to overcome the challenges and create the reverse industry of home appliances. By establishing the industry chain of waste home appliances dismantling, deep processing and recycling, the company hopes to realize the real green recycle in the field of home appliances.