/
Research
/
Project overview

Taking e-waste to a better place

To support the implementation of a landfill ban in Victoria on unwanted electronic and electrical items, the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, working in collaboration with Sustainability Victoria, sought to understand why householders and Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) may – or may not – take their e-waste to local transfer stations for recycling.

What did we do?

BehaviourWorks began by undertaking a ‘Deep Dive’ investigation, surveying householders and SMEs in metro and regional Victoria to identify beliefs, intentions and behaviours around e-waste recycling.

The challenge:
Understanding why householders and SMEs may (or may not) take their e-waste to an appropriate recycling centre
Partners:
Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning with Sustainability Victoria
When:
2017–18

What did we find?

The findings suggest that a lack of knowledge was a major hurdle to changing e-waste recycling behaviours, with many survey participants indicating that they didn’t understand what the term ‘e-waste’ meant, nor what could be done with it and where local transfer stations for recycling were located.

The research revealed that people are more likely to take e-waste to transfer stations if they think it will result in good environmental and social outcomes, know what e-waste can be taken where (and when), and are able to access transfer stations easily.

They are also more likely to act if they think that influential others will approve of their behaviour and trust that their e-waste will actually be recycled.

The insights were used to inform a communication and education campaign to build basic knowledge around e-waste recycling and prepare the Victorian community for the forthcoming landfill ban on e-waste, due to be implemented on 1 July 2019.

At the same time, the Victorian Government has started improving systems and infrastructure to make it easier for Victorians to “take their e-waste to a better place”.

Related projects

View all projects

Nudging litter bugs to pay fines

Since fines for litter thrown out of cars were increased in February 2013, the EPA has seen a steady decline in the payment of litter fines and an increase in the number of people avoiding paying the fine by submitting a statutory declaration, often wrongfully or in bad faith. Clearly, this has a negative impact on the authority, and its reputation.

Food waste starts at school

The Western Australian-based Waste Wise Schools Program (WWS) was created to address the problem of what to do about uneaten food. Food waste turns out to be a small problem that adds up to a large one – most kids eat most of their food most of the time, but they sometimes don’t. ‘Sometimes’ multiplied across many schools equals ‘big’.

A look at food waste from inside the family home

Food waste is estimated to cost the Australian community over $20 billion a year, with more than five million tonnes of food ending up in landfill. This has major environmental impacts. Australia’s leading food rescue organisation, OzHarvest, is working hard to address the issue, rescuing around 180 tonnes of food every week from 3,000 food donors, including supermarkets, restaurants and other food outlets. While OzHarvest is doing a remarkable job, it wants to do more to prevent food waste, primarily by reducing food waste in the home.
Finance
Transport and road safety
Social inclusion
Conservation
Waste
Climate change
Other
Environmental education
Energy
Organisational change
Pollution
Health and safety

Have a project for us?

We'd love to help you unpack the problem. Get in touch.

Thanks for your interest.

Your message has been received.
We'll be in touch shortly.

Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.