Global mandate, national policies, and local responses: scale conflicts in China's management of imported e-waste

This paper explains the problems of China's environmental regulations and programs regarding e-waste, with an emphasis on the multiscalar processes of globalization. Such problems are the consequence of diverse global policy mandates governing the transnational flows of e-waste and conflicting responses of the key actors in China at the national and local levels. Based on field studies carried out in China from 2000 to 2003, this study reveals the transplanting of "best-practice" of environmental policies from developed countries to China. We maintain that it is the conflicting views at different geographic scales regarding the global flows of e-waste and its localization in coastal China that have increased the complexity and difficulty in achieving a more effective regulatory system for a better environment. The conclusion recommends that the adoption of the extended producer responsibility principle in China should be a multiscalar process with three key environmental concerns - the green consumption of electronics products, environmentally sound technology innovation of the domestic electronics products, and the upgrading of the recycling industry in China.