Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Consumer behavior and perspectives concerning spent household battery collection and recycling in China: a case study

Sun, Mingxing LU ; Yang, Xuechun ; Huisingh, Donald ; Wang, Renqing and Wang, Yutao (2015) In Journal of Cleaner Production 107. p.775-785
Abstract
Currently, the majority of spent batteries are not recycled but become part of the household waste in many countries, especially in China which is the largest producer and consumer of batteries. This is due to many reasons, including the lack of governmental policies to encourage and facilitate battery return and recycling. In that context this research was designed to investigate the attitudes and behaviors of Chinese consumers with regard to collection and recycling of spent batteries. The survey results were based upon the analyses of 1874 valid questionnaires. The key reason for the failure of return of spent batteries for recycling was the lack of conveniently located spent battery collection sites. Low awareness of battery management... (More)
Currently, the majority of spent batteries are not recycled but become part of the household waste in many countries, especially in China which is the largest producer and consumer of batteries. This is due to many reasons, including the lack of governmental policies to encourage and facilitate battery return and recycling. In that context this research was designed to investigate the attitudes and behaviors of Chinese consumers with regard to collection and recycling of spent batteries. The survey results were based upon the analyses of 1874 valid questionnaires. The key reason for the failure of return of spent batteries for recycling was the lack of conveniently located spent battery collection sites. Low awareness of battery management policies revealed that the residents did not have adequate information. The consumers were convinced that government is responsible for and should play a vital role in the proper management of spent batteries. The respondents favored using curbside recycling bins for depositing their spent batteries. The questionnaire results revealed that residents would pay a deposit to be 15.6% and 13.6% of the sale price of a battery respectively for deposit refund system and subsidy for spent battery collection and recycling respectively. In conclusion, policies on spent battery collection and recycling should be developed and implemented in China. The respondents provided the following insights for ways to dramatically increase spent battery collection and recycling by underscoring that governments: a. Are responsible for developing the policies, strategies to encourage all residents to return their spent batteries; b. Are responsible for ensuring that conveniently located collection facilities are widely available for citizen deposits of spent batteries; c. Should provide expanded information and education about risk reduction benefits of proper spent battery collection and recycling; d. Should support research on the production of new battery recycling technologies. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Spent batteries, Waste collection, Questionnaire survey, Willingness to, pay, Extended Producer Responsibility
in
Journal of Cleaner Production
volume
107
pages
775 - 785
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • wos:000363071000074
  • scopus:84942989516
ISSN
0959-6526
DOI
10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.05.081
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
d28db347-4b7a-4bbf-8bb5-4df5e126babc (old id 8195195)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 13:47:08
date last changed
2022-04-21 23:37:36
@article{d28db347-4b7a-4bbf-8bb5-4df5e126babc,
  abstract     = {{Currently, the majority of spent batteries are not recycled but become part of the household waste in many countries, especially in China which is the largest producer and consumer of batteries. This is due to many reasons, including the lack of governmental policies to encourage and facilitate battery return and recycling. In that context this research was designed to investigate the attitudes and behaviors of Chinese consumers with regard to collection and recycling of spent batteries. The survey results were based upon the analyses of 1874 valid questionnaires. The key reason for the failure of return of spent batteries for recycling was the lack of conveniently located spent battery collection sites. Low awareness of battery management policies revealed that the residents did not have adequate information. The consumers were convinced that government is responsible for and should play a vital role in the proper management of spent batteries. The respondents favored using curbside recycling bins for depositing their spent batteries. The questionnaire results revealed that residents would pay a deposit to be 15.6% and 13.6% of the sale price of a battery respectively for deposit refund system and subsidy for spent battery collection and recycling respectively. In conclusion, policies on spent battery collection and recycling should be developed and implemented in China. The respondents provided the following insights for ways to dramatically increase spent battery collection and recycling by underscoring that governments: a. Are responsible for developing the policies, strategies to encourage all residents to return their spent batteries; b. Are responsible for ensuring that conveniently located collection facilities are widely available for citizen deposits of spent batteries; c. Should provide expanded information and education about risk reduction benefits of proper spent battery collection and recycling; d. Should support research on the production of new battery recycling technologies. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.}},
  author       = {{Sun, Mingxing and Yang, Xuechun and Huisingh, Donald and Wang, Renqing and Wang, Yutao}},
  issn         = {{0959-6526}},
  keywords     = {{Spent batteries; Waste collection; Questionnaire survey; Willingness to; pay; Extended Producer Responsibility}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{775--785}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Journal of Cleaner Production}},
  title        = {{Consumer behavior and perspectives concerning spent household battery collection and recycling in China: a case study}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.05.081}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.05.081}},
  volume       = {{107}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}