China's e-waste disposal town transforms into national recycling hub

China's southern town of Guiyu, once plagued by heavy pollution from the treatment of electronic waste, has transformed into a national recycling hub, playing an important role in the country's efforts to develop its circular economy and achieve carbon neutrality.

Located in Shantou City of Guangdong Province, Guiyu, once the heartland of China's e-waste disposal, used to feature numerous family-run workshops where residents dismantled e-waste by hand using the most primitive way. Due to the high costs of pollution control equipment, Guiyu's environment suffered, with air often filled with an acrid stench.

The turning point came in 2015 with the launch of the Guiyu Circular Economy Industrial Park, and informal e-waste businesses began to relocate to the park. The goal is to achieve zero waste in the industrial park -- all components that can be reused are recycled, while the rest is processed for valuable material extraction.

Today, the park has evolved into an automated recycling hub for precise and efficient dismantling, with clear systems in place tracking various types of e-waste.

"We recycle all kinds of items, including keyboards and DVD players. We can accurately track which workshop receives e-waste and the timing of these transfers. We also monitor the sources and destinations of all e-waste," said Zhong Yingshan, director of the management committee at the park.

Guiyu is also home to China's first mobile phone safe recycling and disposal demonstration base, which began trial operations in January. A new device has been introduced that efficiently recycles heavy metals from mobile phone circuit boards for centralized and harmless disposal. Currently, the base processes 12,000 tons of waste circuit boards each year.

In recent years, China has consistently strengthened the top-level design of green and low-carbon development. A series of policies implemented by the government have supported the growth of the circular economy and the resource recycling industry.

To promote the development of the circular economy, China established a centrally administered state-owned enterprise, China Resources Recycling Group Co., in October 2024 in Tianjin. The company established nine new subsidiaries just recently, covering areas such as power batteries, new energy, non-ferrous metals and other resource recycling sectors.

According to China's plan for circular economy development during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) period, by this year, the resource recycling industry system will be established, with the output value reaching 5 trillion yuan (about 697.3 billion U.S. dollars).

China's resource-recycling industry is evolving from traditional recycling practices to a high-tech, high-quality sector, according to Zhu Liyang, president of the China Association of Circular Economy.

"In the future, government experts and private enterprises will collaborate to promote the upgrading of the resource recycling industry towards greater standardization, higher value and enhanced efficiency," said Zhu.

China's e-waste disposal town transforms into national recycling hub

A surge in winter tourism during the three-day New Year's Day holiday has sent travel demand soaring in China, with ice-snow-themed destinations drawing record crowds.

Data from major travel platforms show a sharp increase in bookings for railways and flights to northern China, driven largely by the popularity of winter attractions.

In northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, ticket sales for the famed Snow Town scenic area in Mudanjiang City and for the Yabuli Ski Resort in the provincial capital Harbin surged 2.7-fold and twofold, respectively, year on year.

Searches related to "Harbin" spiked more than five fold on a yearly basis, according to travel data.

Harbin's iconic Ice and Snow World, a winter wonderland, emerged as the holiday's top attraction.

"The hottest destination on the New Year's Eve was undoubtedly Harbin's Ice and Snow World. According to data from Qunar Travel, the Ice and Snow World topped the national charts as soon as tickets went on sale, with its popularity surging more than four fold compared with the same period last year," said Shi Ke, a researcher at the Qunar Big Data Research Institute.

The travel rush has put heavy strain on the country's transportation system. Trains from Beijing to major northeastern cities, including Harbin, Shenyang, and Changchun, have only limited seats remaining for the holiday period, and return tickets on Jan. 3, the last day of the holiday, from these cities back to Beijing are nearly sold out.

In response, railway authorities are adding multiple dedicated ice-snow tourism trains, including both high-speed and conventional services.

Air travel is also experiencing robust growth. According to Umetrip, a leading flight data provider, destinations offering high-quality ski resorts and unique winter experiences are seeing the strongest demand.

The Altay Prefecture, a prestigious ski destination in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and Ulanqab City in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region ranked among the fastest-growing destinations in terms of New Year's Day holiday flight bookings.

"Notably, during the 2026 New Year's Day holiday, travelers from southern China emerged as a key driver behind the growth of ice and snow tourism. Southern cities such as Shanghai and Shenzhen have become among the primary sources of visitors to Altay," said Zhao Nan, general manager of the industry development department at Umetrip.

Winter tourism booms during New Year's Day holiday