Charging-for-Recycling Business Model and Consumer Adoption of Recyclable Electronics

Abstract

High costs of recycling operations have kept recycling rates low for many consumer electronics. Meanwhile, increasing the adoption of more recyclable electronics among consumers remains a challenge. Motivated by Best Buy’s decision to charge consumers a flat fee to accept their used TVs/monitors for recycling, we study how charging for recycling would influence consumer adoption of recyclable electronics. Through experimental studies, and building on relevant behavioral insights (nudging and the theory of planned behavior), we compare the charging for recycling scenario with free recycling and recycling tax as current baselines. We find that, compared to the baselines, charging for recycling increases the adoption of recyclable electronics as long as consumers are not in emergency purchase situations. Our results suggest a potential alternative to unsuccessful direct green marketing and cast doubt on prohibiting retailers from charging for recycling.