WHY do people recycle?
They want to contribute to an efficient reuse of resources taken from their old devices1
They want to contribute to humanitarian charities through donating old devices2
They want to benefit from the economic value their devices might still have3
They want to protect the environment, by making sure their devices are recycled properly4
Sustainability reasons seem to be the main motivation for people to return or recycle their old electronic devices. Offering options to donate devices to specific charities is a promising field of action. Monetary benefits could be considered especially for devices that still have a high resale value.
WHY do people not recycle?
The reasons for not returning or recycling old electronic devices are diverse, but there are a few that are the most common.
They do not know where to bring them5
Many people are still not sufficiently aware of the existing return locations.
Collection services are inconvenient6 Lack of information, long distances to return locations, shipping costs or similar can be significant obstacles.
Old devices are kept as spare devices7
Old devices are given to friends or family8
Some devices remain in use. But if not, lack of information about return locations and services are the main reasons for not returning or recycling obsolete equipment. Interventions may focus on awareness raising and accessibility of return options. Especially the moment of purchase of a new device can be a suitable time to motivate consumers to return their old devices.
1 Ylä-Mella et al., 2015
2 Panambunan-Ferse and Breite, 2013
3 Welfens et al., 2016, Dwivedy and Mittal, 2013
4 Kumar, 2017, Ylä-Mella et al., 2015, Saphores et al., 2012, Dwivedy and Mittal, 2013)
5 Martinho et al., 2017, Yin et al., 2014, Panambunan-Ferse and Breite, 2013
6 Beigl et al., 2012, Welfens et al., 2016, Ongondo and Williams, 2011
7 Martinho et al., 2017, Ylä-Mella et al., 2
8 Martinho et al., 2017, Yin et al., 2014
