During the two sessions(两会), Lei Jun, who started China’s tech company Xiaomi, called for more e-waste (电子垃圾) recycling plans in China.
“China should make plans to make full use of those unwanted phones and computers. It can reduce the country’s carbon emissions (碳排放),” Lei told CCTV News.
According to a 2020 UN report, the world’s e-waste will reach 74.7 million tons by 2030. That means it will increase by 100% in 16 years. This makes e-waste the world’s fastest-growing domestic (家用的) waste.
The report found that only 17.4 % of the world’s e-waste was collected and recycled in 2019. This means that gold, silver and other high-value materials were mostly burned or thrown away instead of being reused. It’s a waste of 57 billion dollars. E-waste can also be bad for the environment and people’s health. For example, one phone battery can pollute 600,000 liters of water.
China is now the world’s largest producer of e-waste, followed by the US, India and Japan, according to the UN report. However, tech companies are looking for different ways to solve the problem. For example, US company Apple built a robot called Daisy. It can take 200 iPhones apart within an hour and took the useful materials out. With Daisy, valuable materials can be pulled out more easily.
Xiaomi is also setting up e-waste recycling platforms, where people can give away or sell their old electronics.
【小题1】Lei Jun called for more e-waste recycling plans to ________.| A．make Xiaomi more popular | B．sell more Xiaomi products |
| C．set up a new tech company | D．cut down carbon emissions |
| A．Little e-waste has been reused and recycled by human beings. |
| B．E-waste hasn’t been a serious environmental problem nowadays. |
| C．People are likely to throw gold, silver and other materials away. |
| D．E-waste is bad for the environment but good for human beings. |
| A．By making a comparison. | B．By telling a story. |
| C．By giving an example. | D．By asking questions. |
| A．Xiaomi is sure to solve the e-waste problem by itself |
| B．e-waste has become the world’s fastest-growing waste |
| C．Xiaomi will set up platforms to invent robots like Daisy |
| D．there will be less and less e-waste in China in the future |
| A．Carbon Emission | B．E-waste Recycling |
| C．E-waste Recycling Robots | D．Fast-growing Domestic Waste |
