Acceptance of Mobile Phone Return Programmes for Increased Resource Efficiency by Young People—Experiences from a German Research Project

Abstract

The need for recycling obsolete mobile phones has significantly increased with their rapidly growing worldwide production and distribution. Return and recycling rates are quite low; people tend to keep old, unused phones at home instead of returning them for recycling or further use because of a lack of knowledge and acceptance of return programmes. Thus far, individual use and recycling behavior has not shown any trend towards more sustainable patterns. Consequently, an increased awareness is needed for the high environmental and social impact throughout the whole value chain of a mobile phone—there is simply a lack of information and knowledge regarding sustainability issues around the mobile phone. A teaching material was therefore developed in a German research project, based on the concept of the ecological rucksack, presenting comprehensive information about the value chain of a mobile phone. Its application in different schools led to an increased awareness and interest among pupils for the connection between sustainability, resources and mobile phones. Based on these research results, this paper analyses young people’s knowledge of sustainability issues linked to their mobile phones and their acceptance of more sustainable behavioral patterns regarding their mobile, including return and recycling programmes

Drivers and barriers to return and recycling of mobile phones. Case studies of communication and collection campaigns

“…World Cafés took place through schools and qualitative interviews were held in households of different social milieus (Welfens et al 2013). 6 The project results confirmed the adaptations of the norm activation model:…”

“…The selection of internal and external factors of return and recycling behaviour of individuals is based on analyses of different studies (see Hornik et al 1995, Røpke 2003, Visschers et al 2009, Tanskanen 2012, Mäkelä 2011, Suckling & Lee 2015, Bookhagen et al 2013, Welfens et al 2013). …”

Moving from recycling to waste prevention: A review of barriers and enables

“…It is evident that all waste that is generated during the production of these products is not evaluated in the European statistics. The weight of a mobile phone is about 150 g but the total amount of waste to produce the item is 44.42 kg (Welfens et al, 2013). It seems to be self-deception if a waste reduction is reported for Europe.…”

Competitive outreach in the 21st century: Why we need conservation marketing

“…For example, mobile device recycling can recover precious metals (Geyer and Blass, 2010). While recycling is currently relatively accessible (Ongondo and Williams, 2011), it is relatively underused (Welfens et al, 2013). As mobile use rises rapidly, recycling will become more urgent.…”