Assessing Consumers’ Awareness, Disposal, and Participation Toward Electronic Waste in a Developing Economy: Evidence From Pakistan

Abstract

One of the rapidly growing wastes worldwide is electronic waste (e-waste). With the exponential growth in demand for electrical and electronic equipment (EEE), in Pakistan, on average, 390 kilotons (kt) of e-waste is generated yearly. Our study focuses on consumers’ (1) awareness of e-waste, (2) spending on EEE, (3) disposal of e-waste, and (4) participation toward e-waste management. We surveyed almost 550 individuals in Pakistan and used regression models for analysis. We find that 68.80% of the population is unaware of e-waste. Individuals between 18 and 32 years discard their e-waste at home. Our results are generalizable to similar developing country contexts.