How might we improve take-back schemes to motivate consumers to return obsolete electronics, such as smartphones, to the right collection points? What are effective ways to enable consumers to choose more durable products? Can behaviour change play a role in engaging consumers to exercise their right to repair? We can help!
Each European generates 16.6kg e-waste per year. E-waste reached 50 million tons in 2018 globally, a figure that grows 3-4% every year (ITU, 2017). This is partly so because the useful lifetime of most electronic products is decreasing, and an increasing number of appliances are replaced before they reach their average useful service life of 5 years (Prakash et al., 2016). In the meantime, it is estimated that less than 40% of electronic waste is recycled in the EU (Eurostat, 2017), while over one third of European consumers have never repaired an electronic product (DG JUST, 2018).
In this context, the Electronics Club has come together to better engage consumers, understand consumer behaviour and test behaviourally-informed approaches in retail stores, neighborhoods and households to increase repairing of electronics, improve product maintenance and boost their returning through take-back schemes.