From Discard to Circularity: A Consumer-Centric Framework for E-Waste Management in the Circular Economy

Abstract

Electronic waste (e-waste) is among the fastest-growing waste streams worldwide, yet circular economy (CE) outcomes remain limited by low consumer participation in formal repair, return, and recycling loops. This conceptual paper integrates scholarship on e-waste management, consumer behavior, and the CE to theorize how policy and business interventions shape the mechanisms that convert intention into sustained participation in formal channels. Building on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and extensions from behavioral economics, trust literature, and socio-technical transitions, we propose a multi-level framework linking micro-level consumer mechanisms (attitudes, social norms, perceived behavioral control, trust, and incentive salience) with meso-level firm strategies (design for disassembly, embedded trade-ins, data-wipe guarantees) and macro-level policy instruments (extended producer responsibility, right-to-repair, deposit-refund systems, enforcement). We develop twelve testable propositions, identify boundary conditions including product category and informal sector intensity, and specify feedback loops that stabilize behavior through habit formation and social proof. The paper contributes by (1) extending TPB with mechanism-level constructs of traceability, platform convenience, and credible guarantees; (2) clarifying complementarities within policy mixes; and (3) advancing a micro-meso-macro alignment for CE in e-waste. A research agenda outlines pathways for operationalization, empirical designs, and metrics to enable cumulative cross-context evidence and actionable implications for policymakers, firms, municipalities, and civil society.