Getting rid of electrical and electronic equipment
Disposal decision and service life in the light of institutional economics
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54337/plate2025-10410Keywords:
Consumer behavior, Disposal, Service life, Electrical and electronic equipment (EEE), Institutional economicsAbstract
Within the product life cycle, the user's decision regarding disposal (i.e. getting rid of the product) at the end of the utilization phase plays an important role in terms of the service life of a device of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE). This article first examines from an economic perspective whether and how consumers dispose of EEE. The costs of ownership, the utility of ownership, and disposal costs are identified as the key determinants for this decision. It is the costs of ownership that is the actual cause of the will to dispose, and it is the latter two determinants that prevent the user from disposing of them. While the size of the utility of ownership is already frequently analyzed in the discourse on repair, the perspective of disposal costs seems to receive little attention. Therefore, the article continues to investigate the extent to which the determinant of disposal costs can be put to use for regulation towards a circular economy. To this end, three disposal paths (circular, official-final, illegal), the regulatory objectives associated with them (prevention, safe disposal) and the types of hurdles associated with the respective disposal path (pecuniary, transaction costs, spatial, sanctional) are considered. The result is a complex situation for regulation, not least because of a path of illegal disposal that is not easy to control, which makes it difficult to simply apply economic pricing instruments. Instead, the concept of ‘hurdle management’ is introduced, which offers a perspective for future regulatory efforts with regard to disposal costs.
References
Becker, G. S. (1965). A theory of the allocation of time. Economic Journal, 75(299), 493–517. https://doi.org/10.2307/2228949
Becker, G. S. (1968). Crime and punishment. An economic approach. Journal of Political Economy, 76(2), 169–217.
Best, H., & Kneip, T. (2011). The impact of attitudes and behavioral costs on environmental behavior. A natural experiment on household waste recycling. Social Science Research, 40(3), 917–930. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2010.12.001
Birn, H. (1992). Rechtliche Instrumente zur Steuerung der Abfall- und Reststoffströme. Neue Zeitschrift für Verwaltungsrecht, 1992(5), 419–425.
Boyer, R. H. W., Hunka, A. D., & Whalen; K. A. (2021). Consumer demand for circular products. Identifying custoimer segments in the circular economy. Sustainabiliy, 13(22), 12348. https://doi. org/10. 3390/su132212348.
Bunde, J., & Zimmermann, H. (1988). Abfall aus ökonomischer Sicht. Zeitschrift für angewandte Umweltforschung, 1, 175–182.
Dixit, S., & Vaish, A. (2015). Perceived barriers, collection models, incentives and consumer pref-erences. An exploratory study for effective implementation of reverse logistics. International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management, 21(3), 304–318. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJLSM.2015.069729
Elmer, C.-F., Schatz, M., & Hirschhausen, Chr. von (2005). Effizienzanalyse der europäischen Elekt-roaltgeräte-Richtlinie (WEEE) sowie ihrer nationalen Umsetzungsmöglichkeiten, Public Sector Management and Regulation Working Papers, WP-PSM-07.
Florian, V.-V. (2009). Herstellerverantwortung für Elektro-Schrott. Rechtsprobleme der Herstellerver-antwortung unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des Elektro- und Elektronikgerätegesetzes sowie der Richtlinie 2002/96/EG über Elektro- und Elektronikaltgeräte, Verlag Dr. Kovač.
Frahm, L. B., Boks, C. & Laursen, L. N. (2025). It’s Intertwined! Barriers and Motivations for Second-hand Product Consumption. Circular Economy and Sustainability, 5, 653–674. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43615-024-00441-y
Gawel, E. (1995). Ökologisch orientierte Entsorgungsgebühren. Ökonomische Analyse von Abfall- und Abwassergebühren als Mittel kommunaler Umweltpolitik, Erich Schmidt Verlag.
Gawel, E., & Bretschneider, W. (2017). Specification of a human right to water. A sustainability assessment of access hurdles. Water International, 42(5), 505–526.
Kloepfer, M. (2001). Produktverantwortung für Elektroaltgeräte. Rechtsprobleme der Entsorgung von Altprodukten unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des Entwurfs einer Elektroaltgeräte-Verordnung, Duncker und Humblodt.
Kummer, S., Löhle, St., & Schmiedel, U. (2022). Consumer survey on the final consumer behavior concerning the disposal of WEEE in Germany. Waste Management & Research , 40(5), 538–544. DOI: 10.1177/0734242X211025198
Lersner, H. von (1981). Abfall als Wirtschaftsgut. Natur und Recht, 3, 1–5.
Lersner, H. von (2005). § 24 Rücknahme- und Rückgabepflichten. In: Idem, Wendenburg, H., & Versteyl, L.-A. (eds.). Recht der Abfallbeseitigung des Bundes, der Länder und der Europäischen Union. Kommentierungen der Abfallrahmen-richtlinie, des KrWG und weiterer abfallrechtlicher Gesetze und Verordnungen. Vol. 6, Erich Schmidt Verlag, Kz. 0124.
Mellal, M. A. (2020). Obsolescence – a review of the literature. Technology in Society, 63, 101347, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2020.101347
Nuss, Chr., Stindt, D., Sahamie, R., & Tuma, A. (2016). Eine quantitative Analyse europäischer Richtlinien und Verordnungen zur Abfall- und Kreislaufwirtschaft am Beispiel der Elektro- und Elektronikindustrie. Implikationen und Empfehlungen für eine transnationale Umweltpolitik. Zeitschrift für Umweltpolitik & Umweltrecht, 1/2016, 37–69.
Packard, V. (1960). The Waste Makers (4. pr.). McKay Comp.
Pigou, A. C. (1920). The Economics of Welfare. Macmillan.
Reimann, M. (2024). The impact of a repair subsidy on repair prices, demand and repair company profitability. Journal of Cleaner Production, 469, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.143102
Shevchenko, T., & Danko, Y. (2023). Consumer behaviors in the circular economy with special fo-cus on e-products. Chapter 12. In: B. Debnath, Das, A., Chowdary, P.A., & Bhattacharyya, S. (eds.). Development in E-waste Management, Taylor & Francis, 223–242. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003301899
Shevchenko, T., Laitala, K., & Danko, Y. (2019). Understanding consumer e-waste recycling beha-vior. Introducing a new economic incentive to increase collection rates, Sustainability, 11(9), 2656; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11092656
Wagner, T. P. (2013). Examining the concept of convenient collection: An application to extended producer responsibility and product stewardship frameworks, Waste Management, 33(3), 499–507. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2012.06.015
Yale, L., & Venkatesh, A. (1986). Toward the construct of convenience in consumer research. Advances in Consumer Research, 13, 403–408.
Zimmermann, R., Inês, A., Dalmarco, D., & Moreira, A. C. (2024). The role of consumers in the adop-tion of R-strategies: A review and research agenda, Cleaner and Responsible Consumption, 13, 100193, ttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.clrc.2024.100193.
