GB/T 32886-2016Guidelines for recoverable material selection of electrical and electronic products (English PDF)

3.1 Electrical and electronic products

It refers to the products that need to rely on current or electromagnetic fields to work properly AND designed for use in equipment that generates, transmits and measures such currents and electromagnetic fields as AC voltages not exceeding 1000 V and DC voltages not exceeding 1500 V.

3.12 Biodegradable plastics

It refers to, under certain conditions, the materials which is degraded due to the microbes present in the natural world AND finally completely degraded into carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) or/and methane (CH4 ), water (H2 O) and the mineralized inorganic salt of its contained elements, and new biomass.

6.1 Materials for electrical and electronic products

6.1.1 General

In addition to packaging materials, the principles of recoverable material selection from the electrical and electronic products mainly include:

- SELECT as few material types as possible;

- SELECT materials of higher recovery rate;

- SELECT non-toxic harmless, low toxicity and low harmful materials.

6.1.2 Select as few material types as possible

The less material types used by complete machine, the more conducive to the material recovery.

6.2.1 General

The packaging material is featured by large consumption and short service life, so the material selection method is highly different from the material selection of electrical and electronic products. The main packaging materials include paper, plastic, and foaming materials, AND the principle of recoverable material selection includes:

- SELECT as few material types as possible;

- USE recyclable materials;

- USE biodegradable plastics.

6.2.2 Select as few material types as possible

It shall minimize the types of the materials which form the product packaging,

AND the main methods include:

- The structure shall be as simple as possible;

- The material surface shall not be coated or plated as far as possible;

- The outer packaging printing color shall be as simple as possible.

6.2.3 Use recyclable materials

In the appropriate production process, the recycled material made from a certain proportion of waste raw material has basically the same physical and chemical properties as that of the original materials, which can satisfy the performance requirements of the packaging. Therefore, the packaging material shall be recycled materials as far as possible, including recycled metal, recycled paper products, recycled plastics and recycled foaming materials.

Note: In general, the proportion of the waste paper materials in the recycled paper to the total raw material can be over 90%; AND the proportion of the waste plastic materials in the recycled plastics to the total raw material can be over 30%

6.2.4 Use biodegradable plastics

Biodegradable plastics in nature can gradually generate carbon dioxide, methane and water, so it can be directly used for composting without recycling treatment. It may use the biodegradable plastics to replace petrochemical plastics for the production of packaging, such as polylactic acid (PLA), starch- based plastic, etc., in which the biodegradable plastics shall comply with the following requirements: