Abstract
China is among the countries facing the most serious pollution effects of e-waste. Many studies have focused on e-waste recycling laws and regulations, recycling technologies, and the pollution situation in China. However, there is a lack of case studies from the perspective of the residents’ attitudes and opinions about e-waste recycling. Based on 474 families surveyed by questionnaire, this study, taking Zhuhai City as one example, investigated residents’ behaviors and attitudes toward e-waste disposal, and their willingness to pay (WTP) for e-waste recycling. A majority (76.4%) of respondents realized that the improper treatment of e-waste would cause serious threats to the environment and human health. Only 38.2% of respondents were willing to pay for e-waste recycling. Most respondents believed that the fee should be borne by government and manufacturers. These results imply that income level and satisfaction with management will promote WTP significantly, whereas the recovery price is a negative influence on the respondents’ WTP. The WTP values were positively correlated with environmental awareness and income at 5% and 10%, respectively. Finally, the estimated average monthly WTP value per household in Zhuhai City is 10.2 RMB ($1.6).
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Acknowledgment
This work was funded by The Science and Technology Development Fund, Macau SAR (File no. 0011/2018/A; 0027/2018/A), and Open Fund of Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Petrochemical Pollution Process and Control, Guangdong University of Petrochemical Technology (No. 2018B030322017).
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Cai, K., Song, Q., Peng, S. et al. Uncovering residents’ behaviors, attitudes, and WTP for recycling e-waste: a case study of Zhuhai city, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 2386–2399 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-06917-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-06917-x