Quantifying the potential export flows of used electronic products in Macau: a case study of PCs

The used electronic product (UEP) has attracted the worldwide attentions because part of e-waste may be exported from developed countries to developing countries in the name of UEP. On the basis of large foreign trade data of electronic products (e-products), this study adopted the trade data approach (TDA) to quantify the potential exports of UEP in Macau, taking a case study of personal computers (PCs). The results show that the desktop mainframes, LCD monitors, and CRT monitors have more low-unit-value trades with higher trade volumes in the past 10 years, while the laptop and tablet PCs, as the newer technologies, owned the higher ratios of the high-unit-value trades. During the period of 2005–2015, the total mean exports for used laptop and tablet PCs, desktop mainframes, and LCD monitors were approximately 18,592, 79,957, and 43,177 units, respectively, while the possible export volume of used CRT monitors was higher, up to 430,098 units in 2000–2010. Noticed that these potential export volumes could be the lower bound because not all used PCs may be shipped using the PC trade code. For all the four kinds of used PCs, the majority (61.6–98.82%) of the export volumes have gone to Hong Kong, followed by Mainland China and Taiwan. Since 2011, there was no CRT monitor export; however, the other kinds of used PC exports will still exist in Macau in the future. The outcomes are helpful to understand and manage the current export situations of used products in Macau, and can also provide a reference for other countries and regions.