In the galloping information age, used electronic products are more and more likely to be thrown away as new, state-of-the-art models crop up.

So comes the issue of where and how they are disposed, a serious but under-emphasized one in China.

Statistics show that about 5 million computers, 10 million mobile phones and a large quantity of other electronic products, such as refrigerators, TV sets and washing machines, are becoming trash.

They contain a variety of harmful substances and may pollute the environment and hurt public health if they are not properly treated before being dumped into the environment.

It is time to remind people of the health hazards produced during the production of electronic products. It is more urgent to resort to legislation and co-operation between manufacturers, retailers and consumers to reduce that hazard.

China has promulgated a regulation early this year to prevent pollution during the production of electronic products. Other relevant regulations are in the pipeline.

In reality, however, the situation has not improved much despite the passage of the law.

A small number of big enterprises are paying attention to the problem and taking measures to recycle waste products and components. But most companies and the public are yet to take concrete action to support e-waste recycling.

A national, unified framework for recycling electronic products is of vital importance for the government, industry and consumers to deal with the mounting problem of e-waste.

A crucial problem is that there is no agreement yet on who should pay for recycling. The government, manufacturers, retailers and consumers all bear the responsibility of environmental protection. The cost of e-waste recycling should be shared among them.

While promoting the environmental consciousness of the public, the government and enterprises must open more public recycling spots so that the public knows where they should dump their e-trash.

The slowness of the public in participating in recycling electronic products often results from their ignorance of where to discard them.

And as is practised in some countries, consumers who buy environmentally friendly products should enjoy tax rebates.

The State should also grant preferential tax policies for those enterprises that make green products that can be more easily recycled.

Although it will take much time for it to translate those ideas into reality, it can start now to experiment with them to push the cause.