Journal
SUSTAINABILITY
Volume 12, Issue 14, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/su12145552
Keywords
circular economy; storage; consumer electronics; consumer value
Funding
- Lighthouse initiative ODEx of University of Southern Denmark (e-circle)
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Consumers across the globe tend to store their small electronic devices when they reach their end of life instead of disposing of them. This is a problem because if end-of-life devices are not recovered from consumers' homes, the devices cannot be re-used or recycled, leading to increased production. We study what motivates consumers to store their end-of-life devices by looking at how storage creates consumer value. Applying a practice-based understanding of value, we find that storage is a social practice that generates value by protecting consumers from four different kinds of risk: practical risks, existential risks, environmental risks, and moral risks. Storage gives consumers a sense of security in their everyday lives and thus generates what we call 'security value'. This notion implies that even though end-of-life devices sit idle in consumers' homes, their value generating capacity remains active. The findings have implications for the role of consumers in reverse logistics strategies for sustainable systems.
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