העדפות צרכנים לגבי תכניות מיחזור פסולת אלקטרונית ע"י שימוש בטכניקות מתקדמות של ניסויי בחירה בדידה

Growing dependency on technology results in an ever growing waste stream of electronic and electric waste (e-waste). Unlike other wastes, in addition to the problem of space created by the accumulation of the waste, e-waste is also an environmental and health problem due to its unique characteristics and diverse composition of materials. However, e-waste also has an embedded economic value.  In order to eliminate the threats and extract the economic value from the waste, a comprehensive recycling system with a variety of End-Of-Life (EOL) solutions must be operated. The success of such operation greatly depends on household's participation rate in collection activities.

Even though the literature about recycling is quite extensive the research about e-waste is fairly new and not so comprehensive. To the best of our knowledge there are only a handful of studies with conventional methods that mainly targeted isolated factors.

Our study aim to understand household's preferences towards e-waste collection programs by employing advanced econometric techniques intended to elicit consumers’ preferences and "Willingness to Pay" (WTP). To that end, we use Discrete Choice Experiments (DCEs), designed using the D-Efficient Bayesian approach; the New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) questionnaire, used in order to assess environmental attitudes; and a set of eleven statements used to assess Pro Environmental Behavior (PEB) tendency. Results from these instruments were combined with demographic and socio-economic information in order to provide a comprehensive and more detailed examination of consumers' preferences.

Robust and consistent results showed that consumers' preferences regarding price, distance and frequency are in line with economic theory and that the Israeli population seems mature enough to embrace these new recycling activity. Interesting evidences regarding the influence of PEB and attitudes towards the environment are revealed as well as a certain level of WTP for improvement of collection conditions and significant heterogeneity regarding drop-off recycling centers location are demonstrated among other policy shaping findings.