Counting the carbon cost of E-waste

As the world upgrades to the latest gadgets, our old smartphones, refrigerators, and televisions are fueling the fastest-growing waste stream on the planet: E-waste. While recycling is often seen as a purely "green" endeavor, a groundbreaking study published in Carbon Research reveals that the process of dismantling these electronics carries its own significant carbon price tag.

Led by Dr. Mo Zhang from Nankai University, the research team provides the first comprehensive look at the carbon footprint of China’s E-waste dismantling industry. By meticulously tracking daily electricity consumption across key facilities and matching it with the dismantling volume of five major categories of household electronics, the study peels back the curtain on the energy intensity required to manage our digital leftovers.

The findings are eye-opening. Between 2013 and 2020, the average carbon emission of dismantling a single unit of E-waste rose from 1.2513 kgCO2 to 1.3335 kgCO2. This upward trend suggests that as electronics become more complex, the energy required to break them down responsibly is also increasing.

"Our goal was to fill the gap in consensus regarding how we account for carbon in the recycling sector," said Dr. Mo Zhang, the corresponding author from the College of Environmental Science and Engineering at Nankai University. "By establishing a field-based inventory, we can now see exactly where the emissions are coming from—and more importantly, how to reduce them."

Key Findings from the Study:

Product Discrepancy: Not all E-waste is created equal. Refrigerators carry the highest carbon emission factor due to their complex dismantling processes and high energy requirements. In contrast, televisions have a significantly lower carbon footprint during dismantling.

Geographic Trends: The carbon footprint of E-waste dismantling in China follows a pattern of "regional agglomeration + single point prominence," identifying specific hubs where recycling activity, and emissions, are most concentrated. The Efficiency Challenge: Even as total dismantling volumes stabilized toward 2020, the per-unit carbon cost continued to climb, highlighting an urgent need for more energy-efficient dismantling technologies.

This research, supported by the Research Center for Resource, Energy and Environmental Policy at Nankai University, serves as a vital roadmap for policymakers and industry leaders. It underscores that for the circular economy to be truly sustainable, we must optimize the energy efficiency of the recycling process itself.

As China continues to lead the world in E-waste processing, the methodologies developed by Dr. Zhang’s team provide an essential framework for a low-carbon transition in the waste management sector.

Corresponding Author:

Mo Zhang

• College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin, China.
• Research Center for Resource, Energy and Environmental Policy, Nankai University, Tianjin, China.

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Journal reference:  Ba, J., Wang, Y., Wang, D. et al. Carbon footprint accounting of E-waste dismantling process in China: field-based research. Carbon Res. 5, 1 (2026).

https://doi.org/10.1007/s44246-025-00238-0  

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About Carbon Research

The journal Carbon Research is an international multidisciplinary platform for communicating advances in fundamental and applied research on natural and engineered carbonaceous materials that are associated with ecological and environmental functions, energy generation, and global change. It is a fully Open Access (OA) journal and the Article Publishing Charges (APC) are waived until Dec 31, 2025. It is dedicated to serving as an innovative, efficient and professional platform for researchers in the field of carbon functions around the world to deliver findings from this rapidly expanding field of science. The journal is currently indexed by Scopus and Ei Compendex, and as of June 2025, the dynamic CiteScore value is 15.4.

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