Exploring incentive mechanism in smart E-waste management system in China

Abstract

With the vast increase in global e-waste, e-waste management is becoming increasingly critical. China produces a large amount of e-waste every year, but the recycling rate is minimal. To avoid causing severe environmental pollution and affecting human health, the Chinese government has focused on recycling e-wastes. E-waste contains precious metals and critical minerals, which are misplaced resources and have recycling value. We combined the incentive system with the smart e-waste collecting system and constructed a set of incentive measures suitable for China’s smart e-waste collection system, which is conducive to enhancing the e-waste recovery rate and is applicable. The existing smart e-waste collection system adopts a single economic incentive method. It faces fierce competition from unauthorized informal recyclers, resulting in a small number of users and a failure to fully utilize its advantages. In the reverse logistics of e-waste recycling, consumers are the starting point of product recycling. By analyzing the characteristics and determinants of Chinese users’ recycling behavior, this study selected appropriate incentives for a smart e-waste collection system to satisfy Chinese consumers’ perceptions of end-of-life electrical and electronic equipment. The incentive system is based on economic incentives, including currency, reward points, and tax incentives, and combines negative incentives, mainly fines. Rewards and punishments are employed simultaneously to achieve long-term and sustainable incentive effects. The incentive system is based on the convenient infrastructure of the smart e-waste collection system, and its financial model must be shared by multiple stakeholders from the government, smart e-waste systems, and manufacturers.