Waste battery disposal and recycling behavior: a study on the Australian perspective.

Consumer behavior is a critical consideration for the development of sustainable waste management systems, including waste batteries, which pose a serious threat to human health and the environment if disposed of improperly. This study investigates the consumers' perspective on the waste battery collection and recycling behaviors in Australia, and analyses their implications for the development of recycling schemes. The results show that, although general awareness exists among consumers about the negative impacts of improper disposal, this awareness was not reflected during the disposal of waste batteries among the participants. Insufficient knowledge about the waste battery collection points and convenience were the most important factors affecting the inappropriate disposal behavior from most of the consumers. Over 50% of participants were unaware of the collection points for waste batteries. The most-preferred battery collection systems involved a deposit return system similar to that used for bottle recycling in the state of New South Wales (NSW) or collection at supermarkets/retailers. The most preferred methods for providing an incentive to recycle batteries were "old-for-new" battery swaps, "vouchers that could be used for other items in a store," and "cash payments." Several policy implications have been highlighted from this pioneering study that could shape the future development of sustainable waste battery management systems in Australia.

Reverse logistics network design for waste solar photovoltaic panels: A case study of New South Wales councils in Australia.

Waste solar photovoltaic (PV) panels are considered as one of the fastest-growing future waste streams under the category of large electronic waste (e-waste). The lifespan of solar panels varies from 20 to 30 years, and an appropriate reverse logistics network design is essential to manage the waste stream efficiently once their lifetime expires. Mixed-integer programming-based RL model is proposed in this paper for New South Wales, Australia that minimizes the overall cost by identifying optimal locations and sizing of the collection points while determining optimal capacities for recycling facilities. Using the historical data (2001-2017) on the installed capacity of solar panels in the state, the potential waste generation (at council-level) is estimated and optimized solutions are proposed for the year 2047. The results of the study show that the highest waste solar PV will be generated at Murrumbidgee, Berrigan, Balranald, and Bogan councils. Out of 129 councils in the state, the model identifies 78 optimized-locations of the collection points that would be required in the councils. In the councils of Newcastle, Narrandera and Wagga Wagga, three major recycling facilities would need to be established. This is the first systematic attempt in designing an optimized RL network in Australia focusing on waste solar PV. Policy-makers will find this research highly valuable in decision-making on local recycling infrastructure development.

Waste mobile phones: A survey and analysis of the awareness, consumption and disposal behavior of consumers in Australia.

Electronic waste (e-waste) is one of the fastest-growing waste streams in the world and waste mobile phone (WMP) represents a significant portion of the stream. Consumer awareness, consumption, and disposal behavior are of importance to assist in the implementation the circular economy. In Australia, some 94% of the adult population has a mobile phone, and the only WMP collection and recycling program in the country - "MobileMuster" is operating under a voluntary scheme. This study reveals consumers' familiarity with the program, current consumption, and disposal behavior concerning mobile phones from a survey implemented in Sydney, Australia. In addition to descriptive analysis, statistical analysis (with the Chi-square test of independence and Multinomial Logistic Regression (MLR)) identifies factors that influenced the behaviors. The results show that only one-third of the respondents (32.42%) were aware of the program, and that there are 3.65 mobile phones in use per household, with an average possession lifespan of 3.17 years (including storage). Furthermore, there is a positive relationship between age and possession of mobile phones, and respondents discard or change their mobile phones while they were still working or repairable. The main reasons for disposing of mobile phones relate to them being either damaged/not functioning, lacking additional features, or having a backdated capacity. Storing (hoarding) mobile phones after active use was found predominant, and, more specifically, respondents aged 18-24 and 25-29 preferred to store their WMPs instead of taking them to collection points. The results reveal a need for environmental awareness-raising campaigns concerning WMPs recycling.

Material flow analysis (MFA) as a strategic tool in E-waste management: Applications, trends and future directions.

Material flow analysis (MFA) is one of the most widely accepted and utilized tools in the industrial-ecology discipline, that measures the input-output materials and examines the pathways and flux of each material flow within the whole system. The application of MFA in e-waste management has recently increased and quite a few academic articles have been published on this issue providing decision support at the policy level. However, there is a need to understand the dynamics of MFA methodology, the data requirements (as well as the data sources used in the previous studies) and the lessons learnt from the studies, so that countries where such an E-waste-MFA study has not yet been performed can apply the international experience of such an emerging research technique. This comprehensive review article presents the recent applications, trends, characteristics, research gaps and challenges of the MFA method that may help e-waste management with an overview of the need for a such tool to be applied. A country-wise analysis is presented and MFA models complemented by various associated methods are summarized with national-level, regional-level, product-level, and element-level assessment. The highlighted future research perspectives discussed in this study will help to analyze e-waste management systems more critically, including the hidden and known flows of waste products and associated materials, economic assessment of material recovery and the role of responsible authorities. This invaluable contribution will help future researchers, particularly from the data collection techniques and previously applied MFA models complemented by various associated methods.