Accepted Manuscript

Determinants of residents' e-waste recycling behaviour intentions: Evidence from

China

Zhaohua Wang, Dongxue Guo, Xiaomeng Wang

PII: S0959-6526(16)31051-4
DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.07.155
Reference: JCLP 7727

To appear in: Journal of Cleaner Production

Received Date: 20 May 2016

Revised Date: 10 July 2016
Accepted Date: 25 July 2016

Please cite this article as: Wang Z, Guo D, Wang X, Determinants of residents' e-waste recycling
behaviour intentions: Evidence from China, Journal of Cleaner Production (2016), doi: 10.1016/
j.jclepro.2016.07.155.

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 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

Determinants of residents e-waste recycling behaviour intentions:

evidence from China

Zhaohua Wanga,b,c, Dongxue Guo a,b,c, Xiaomeng Wanga,b,c
a
School of Management and Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, 100081 Beijing, China
b
Centre for Energy & Environmental Policy Research, Beijing Institute of Technology, 100081

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Beijing, China
c
Collaborative Innovation Centre of Electric Vehicles in Beijing, China

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Abstract: This research analyses the factors influencing residents e-waste recycling behaviour

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intentions and focuses on the effect of residents Perceptions of informal recycling on their recycling

behaviour intentions. For this purpose, we have developed a reliable scale, and investigated Chinese

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residents from Chinas seven geographic regions and 22 provinces. Based on the theory of planned
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behaviour (TPB), we used a structural equation model to analyse the factors affecting resident
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e-waste recycling behaviour intentions. The results showed that the key influencing factors were:

environmental awareness, attitude towards recycling, perceptions of informal recycling, income and
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costs of recycling, and norms and publicity which indirectly affected resident behaviour intentions
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towards e-waste recycling by way of the intervening variable perceptions of informal recycling:
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norms and publicity has a positive impact on perceptions of informal recycling. Finally, based on the

above findings, the paper puts forward some policy proposals.

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Keywords: E-waste; Recycling behaviour; Perceptions of informal recycling; theory of planned

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behaviour.

1. Introduction

With the improvement of the world economy and the rapid development of its electrical industry,

Corresponding author at: School of Management and Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China. Tel.:+
8610 68918213; fax: +86 10 68912483 E-mail address: wangzhaohua@bit.edu.cn (Zhaohua Wang)

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electrical and electronic products are continually upgraded, so that waste electrical and electronic

equipment (WEEE, or e-waste) which endangers human health is increasing rapidly. China has made

an enormous contribution to global e-waste production: in 2014, the amount of global e-waste hit

record highs of 41.8 million tons and China ranked second in the world with six million tons of

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e-waste discarded, according to the United Nations University, United Nations Educational Research

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Department, 19 April, 2015. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Chinas four machines

and one brain (TV, refrigerator, air conditioner, washing machine, and computer) waste amounted to

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100 million units and the waste from mobile phone amounted to 70 million units in 2013.

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Meanwhile, according to a report into the e-waste disposal industry, the amount of e-waste in China
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reached 11.1 million tons in 2012, which accounted for 22.7% of the global total. In addition, more

than 2 million tons of e-waste are imported to China by illegal means every year1. In the case of
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large e-waste in China, if addressing e-waste by simple rather than scientific means, heavy metals
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and other harmful substances contained in waste electronic products will remain in the environment
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for a long time and could cause serious damage to human health and the environment.

Faced with this grim situation, the recycling and management of e-waste has become a concern
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for the Chinese Government. Since 1995, the Chinese Government has introduced a series of laws
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and regulations, such as Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of
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Environmental Pollution by Solid Waste, Cleaner Production Promotion Law of the People's

Republic of China, Management Methods on Control of Pollution Caused by Electronic information

Products, Circular Economy Promotion Law, which has enriched the e-waste legislation system and

pointed out directions for sensible e-waste recycling and management. Based on the aim of

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http://www.hbzhan.com/news/Detail/96635.html
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establishing Chinese household e-wastes processing system, the government released Regulations

on the management of recycling and processing waste electrical and electronic equipment (hereafter,

the regulations) in February, 2009. And in May of the same year, the trade-in policy was issued. In

2010, four machines and one brain (TV, refrigerator, air conditioner, washing machine and

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computer) was included in the first batch of disposal lists of waste electrical and electronic products,

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and in 2015, the second batch of disposal list added discarded mobile phones, printers, copiers, and

nine such types of products, which further expand the scope of regulatory implementation. New

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categories will be implemented in 2016.

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Under the impetus of these policies, recycling of Chinese e-waste has advanced significantly.
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Now that China has 105 enterprises dismantling e-waste at fixed-point places, about 50% of waste

electrical and electronic products flow to normal channels for processing. However, ending with the
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trade-in policy at the end of 2011, e-waste recycling in parts of China has returned to the
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phenomenon by which recycling is mainly addressed by small traders, and it has begun to suffer
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from channel dispersion, price instability, lower levels of intensity, competitive disadvantages of

normal enterprises compared with small traders, and other pertinent circumstances2. According to the
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waste electrical and electronic products disposal information system from Ministry of Environmental
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Protection, the amount of dismantling waste electrical and electronic products was 2.0085 million
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units by 19 May, 2014: relative to 2 hundred million units per year of major waste appliances, the

amount of dismantling e-waste accounted for only 10% of the total, and there were 84 enterprises

taking part in dismantling3. Obviously, the amount of e-waste generated by Chinese enterprises is

large, but the ratio of recycling through normal channels is very small, most of the e-waste flows to

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http://news.xinhuanet.com/tech/2013-08/06/c_125120753.htm
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http://news.xinhuanet.com/tech/2015-08/10/c_128110797.htm
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small traders. Why have small traders become the main force in Chinese e-waste recycling? There is

little research into this issue; Chi et al., (2014) used Taizhou, China as a case study and pointed out

that the informal worker had an advantage with respect to recycling range, service convenience,

flexibility, and availability. In addition, Orlins and Guan (2016) have found that informal sectors

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lack of e-waste recycling environmental awareness through the investigation thereof, and that they

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would not like to accept unified management from government due to fear of losing their jobs or

profits. Thus, do residents think that informal sectors lack environmental awareness? How does

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resident cognition of e-waste recycling by informal sectors influence resident behaviour? To solve

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these problems, this study investigated seven geographic regions of China and residents in 22
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provinces: based on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), and by using a structural equation model

to analyse the factors affecting resident e-waste recycling behaviours, it focussed on the influence of
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residents perceptions of informal recycling on their recycling behaviours.

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The rest of this paper is arranged as follows: we introduced the theoretical model and research
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hypothesis of this study on the basis of summarising current scholarly research findings in Section 2.

We then specifically presented our data sources and research methods in Section 3 and discussed the
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study results in Section 4. Finally, the last section draws the conclusions from this work and
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proposed corresponding policy recommendations.

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2. Literature review

With increasing e-waste tonnages, recycling is an effective way to solve an environmental

problem. E-waste recycling has at its heart always a public goods game, some reviews have

concluded the factors could alleviate the tragedy of the commons from a macroscopic perspective

(Perc and Szolnoki, 2010; Perc et al., 2016). From a micro angle, scholars have carried out many
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studies of e-waste recycling behaviour, which focused mainly on three aspects: studies of

influencing factors around e-waste recycling behaviour, the role of government, and informal

recycling in the process of e-waste recycling.

Many scholars have conducted research into the factors affecting e-waste recycling behaviour.

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The results focused on recycling attitudes, infrastructure construction, recycling habits, income,

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education levels, and other factors. Tonglet et al. (2004) argue that the factors influencing e-waste

recycling behaviour including: recycling attitude, previous recycling experience, and a concern for

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the community and the consequences of recycling, are among those, pro-recycling attitudes that are

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the major contributor to recycling behaviour. Nixon and Saphores (2007) studied the factors that
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influence willingness to pay an advanced process fee (ARF) for electronics. Results showed that age,

income, trust in the government and enterprises, and the distance from the recycling system, level of
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educational attainment, and environmental attitudes exert significant effects. Wang et al. (2011) and
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Dwivedy and Mittal (2013), respectively, choose Beijing and India as subjects for study: research
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results showed that residents conditions, recycling, and economic benefits have significant effects

on the desire to recycle and behaviour around e-waste. In addition, many scholars believe that
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e-waste recycling infrastructure or recycling management systems are key factors affecting the
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desire to recycle and behaviour therein (An et al., 2015; Bouvier and Wagner, 2011; Tonglet et al.,
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2004; Wang et al., 2011; Yl-MellaKeiski and Pongrcz, 2015; Zhang et al., 2016).

Many studies have shown that government plays one of the most important roles in e-waste

recycling. Hicks et al. (2005) argues that, in developing countries, both government and residents

should play an important role in the e-waste recycling and infrastructure construction. Many scholars,

taking China as an object, have researched extended producer responsibility (EPR) in waste

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recycling. They also pointed out that the government has played a more important role in recycling

(Fleckinger and Glachant, 2010; Mo et al., 2009; Nnorom et al., 2009; Zhao et al., 2010). The

Chinese Government makes significant efforts towards e-waste recycling: Yu et al. (2010) think that

the Chinese Government has been aware of the environmental problems of e-waste for a number of

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years and reviews the existing framework for e-waste management in China including regulatory

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policies and pilot projects. Yu et al. (2014) summarise the Chinese Government contribution to the

recovery of e-waste through her recycling laws and regulations, financial investment, and project

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posting, including: (1) Enforceable fund collection and financial support; (2) Subsidy measures; (3)

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Qualification and auditing systems to benefit recyclers. Zhang et al. (2015) focus on legal, recycling,
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and technical systems to review the progress in WEEE recycling in China. Laws and regulations,

and related policies formulated by Government indeed have played a pivotal role in e-waste
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recycling; but, at present, Chinese residents recycling through normal channels for e-waste only
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accounts for a small proportion of all waste. The informal process has become the main way of
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recycling e-waste.

Early studies on the informal sector (19601970) considered it as a separate economic domain.
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Since then, however, mainstream theory has come to recognise the interdependency between formal
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and informal sectors (Chi et al., 2011). Informal recycling, as a major force in the process of e-waste
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recycling has always been a concern. A majority of articles which study informal recycling of

e-waste focused on informal waste professions in developing countries. Wilson et al. (2009) remark

that the recycling rates achieved by the informal sector in four developing countries (Philippines,

India, Pakistan and China) are quite high, often in the range of 2050%. Dwivedy and Mittal (2013)

proved that most e-waste materials in India are being collected by informal scrap collectors at a

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monetary exchange rate much higher than any formal recycler can competitively match, and the

competition from informal scrap dealers is the most crucial hindrance to moving toward a formal

re-cycling model in India.

At present, informal recycling of e-waste is prevalent in China and many scholars paid close

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attention to Chinas informal sectors (Liu et al., 2006; Terazono et al., 2006; Yang et al., 2008). In

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the early 1990s, the beginning of used EEE importation had stimulated early scale development of

the informal e-waste recycling sector. During the following years, a booming increase of domestic

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EEE consumption alongside the countrys rapid industrialization and urbanization quickly enlarged

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local demand of second-hand components and refurbished appliances, the most common outputs of
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informal recyclers (Chi et al., 2011). Li (2002) believed junk-buyers played an important role in

linking waste owners and redemption depots in urban China. Chi et al. (2014) taking Taizhou in
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China as their research object, showed that informal recycling is the main processing pattern, and
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informal collectors have an advantage in their scope of collection, service convenience, flexibility,
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and availability compared with their more formal counterparts. An et al. (2015) and Fei et al. (2016)

argue that standardising informal peddlers, and integrating the informal process system, are effective
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ways of promoting e-waste recycling. These studies have shown that standardised management of
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informal processes is necessary, besides, informal processes are also the main channel for Chinese
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residents to recycle e-waste; however, Orlins and Guan (2016), investigating Chinas informal

sectors revealed that informal sectors lack of e-waste recycling environmental protection

consciousness, in addition, due to the fear of losing jobs and income, they are unwilling to accept

government management. Thus, the role of informal sectors in Chinas e-waste recycling is the issue

upon which this work will focus.

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Researches on e-waste recycling are abundant and in-depth, and especially the influencing

factors on e-waste recycling behaviour intention can be adopted for reference. In addition, informal

recycling becomes a hot topic in different countries or regions, and related problems are focused by

many scholars. Nevertheless, few studies link the informal recycling and influencing factors on

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e-waste recycling behaviour, that is to say, perception of informal recycling is rarely as a factor in

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the researches. We believe the problem, whether perceptions of informal recycling affect residents

e-waste recycling behaviour intentions, is worth thoroughly pondering. More probably, more

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information and discussion are accumulated in this, so that the theoretical knowledge about e-waste

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recycling could be supplemented, and they may also play an important role in practice which
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combining the formal and informal sectors.
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3. Data and method

3.1. Theoretical model and research hypothesis

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To study the factors affecting e-waste recycling behaviours and intentions, many scholars have
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used TPB as a framework: (Tonglet et al., 2004; Yl-Mella et al., 2015; Zhang et al., 2016). The
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TPB postulates three conceptually independent determinants of intention. The first is the attitude

toward the behaviour and refers to the degree to which a person has a favourable or unfavourable
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evaluation or appraisal of the behaviour in question. The second predictor is a social factor termed

subjective norm; it refers to the perceived social pressure to perform or not to perform the behaviour.

The third antecedent of intention is the degree of perceived behavioural control which refers to the

perceived ease or difficulty of performing the behaviour and it is assumed to reflect past experience

as well as anticipated impediments and obstacles (Ajzen, 1991).The framework is shown in Fig. 1.

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Attitude

Subjective Norms Intention Behavior

Perceived
Behavioral Control

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Fig.1. The framework of TPB4

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Taking the theoretical basis of TPB, through the expansion of the model, we conducted research

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mainly on the factors influencing resident e-waste recycling behaviour intentions and determined the

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model variables combining with the literature review in Section 2.1 about e-waste recycling
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influencing factors. What needs to be elaborated first of all may be behaviour intention. Behaviour

intention in this paper refers to residents willingness and behaviour towards recycling e-waste to
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formal or professional recycling organizations or manufacturers, not including sell to informal

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sectors or petty dealers. Our research objectives would like to find out influencing factors which
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affect residents behaviour intention towards recycling e-waste to formal sectors.

Attitude in the framework refers to residents environmental cognition of e-waste and attitudes
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towards recycling. Tonglet et al. (2004) argue that recycling attitude influence e-waste recycling
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behaviour significantly. Nixon and Saphores (2007) studied the factors that influence willingness to
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pay an advanced process fee (ARF) for electronics and found environmental attitudes exert

significant effects. So we take the environmental protection consciousness and attitude towards

recycling as the two variables to describe the TPB.

Subjective norm in the framework refers to the laws and regulations and the related propaganda

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The TPB postulates three conceptually independent determinants of intention and respectively are attitude,
subjective norms, perceived behavioral control.
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that residents have learned about e-waste recycling. Hicks et al. (2005) believed the government

should play an important role in the developing countries. Yu et al. (2014) summarised the Chinese

Government contribution to the recovery of e-waste and recycling laws and regulations were

included. So we choose norms and publicity as measures thereof.

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Perceived behaviour control in the framework means the cost and convenience of recycling of

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e-waste that people can perceive, and residents perceptions of informal processes. Among those, the

cost and convenience of recycling e-waste come from residents perceptions, not the real costs or

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real convenience. For example, in the measurement of the cost of recycling, the traffic expense

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which residents send e-waste to the collection point may come from residents feeling, not the real
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traffic expense. In addition, the cost of recycling and convenience of recycling have been proved as

the most significant influencing factors on resident e-waste recycling behaviour by many scholars,
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such as, Tonglet et al. (2004), Wang et al. (2011), Dwivedy and Mittal (2013), inter alia. Moreover,
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according to the actual situation of Chinas e-waste recycling, petty dealers are the main force behind
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residents e-waste recycling. The cognition of residents towards informal sectors affects their

intentions and choice in the process of e-waste recycling, so we believe that residents perceptions of
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informal processes can affect recycling behaviour.

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Besides the influencing factors of the TPB, demographic variables are often referred to as
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influencing factors in behaviour studies: in research into e-waste recycling behaviour, many scholars

have also proved that the demographic variables exert a significant influence. In the literature review

about the factors influencing e-waste recycling, income and education level have been found to be

key, and residents income and education levels are proved to have significant influence on their

recycling behaviours (Dwivedy and Mittal, 2013; Nixon and Saphores, 2007; Song et al., 2012, Yin

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et al., 2014). Saphores et al. (2012) think that age has a negative effect on residents willingness to

recycle, because usually young people have a higher education level, are more knowledgeable about

environmental protection, and want to take some measures to improve their living environment.

Saphores et al. (2006) investigate the willingness of people towards e-waste recycling and find that

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the number of people in the Very willing category decreases by 0.215 for people younger than 36

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or older than 65. Many scholars believe that gender also affects recycling behaviour, and they think

that women are more willing to recycle (Darby and Obara, 2005; Saphores et al., 2006; Saphores et

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al., 2012; Sidique et al., 2010). We also take gender, age, income, and education (as four

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demographic variables) into consideration in the model. The conceptual framework is shown in Fig.
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2.
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Fig. 2. The conceptual framework5

Based on the literature review, and the theoretical model, combined with the actual situation, we

put forward a research hypothesis. Tonglet et al. (2004) and Nixon and Saphores (2007) confirmed

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Based on TPB, several variables are defined, and the determinants of intention include different variables.
Otherwise, demographic variables are also considered.
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that the consciousness of environmental protection and attitude towards recycling will actively

promote the behaviour intention of residents e-waste recycling, in addition, many scholars believe

that the e-waste recycling infrastructure or recycling management systems will positively affect the

desire and behaviour of residents towards recycling (An et al.,2015; Bouvier and Wagner, 2011;

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Tonglet et al., 2004; Wang et al., 2011; Yl-Mella Keiski and Pongrcz, 2015; Zhang et al., 2016).

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We therefore proposed the following three research hypotheses:

H1: Resident Environmental awareness positively affects e-waste recycling behaviour intention;

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H2: Convenience of recycling affects the e-waste recycling behaviour intention;

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H3: Attitude towards recycling of residents positively affects e-waste recycling behaviour
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intention;

Yu et al. (2010) and Yu et al. (2014) prove that the laws and regulations and related government
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propaganda positively influence the willingness of residents to recycle e-waste. Orlins and Guan
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(2016) researched Chinas informal sectors and found their lack of environmental protection
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consciousness during e-waste recycling. Thus, the law should help residents to realise that it is

potentially harmful to the environment to recycle via informal vendors. However, combined with the
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actual situation of Chinas e-waste recycling, implementation and publicity of the laws and
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regulations will enhance resident environmental awareness and make them willing to recycle e-waste.
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Due to a lack of formal channels, residents can only choose to sell their e-waste to vendors and

erroneously believe that vendors play the role of environmental protectors in e-waste recycling. On

this basis, we proposed the following three research hypotheses:

H4: Norms and Publicity positively influence the behaviour intention to e-waste recycling;

H5: Perceptions of informal recycling negatively influence the behaviour intention to e-waste

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recycling;

H6: Norms and Publicity negatively influence Perceptions of informal recycling;

Nixon and Saphores (2007), Wang et al. (2011) and Dwivedy and Mittal (2013) point out that

income affects resident desire for, and behaviour around, e-waste recycling. Wang et al. (2011)

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investigate residents in Beijing, China and prove that income positively affects the behaviour

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intention towards e-waste recycling; however, we covered 22 provinces, across seven geographical

areas in China and found that residential income gaps are significant and large: the higher the

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income of a person, the less they care about the benefit of e-waste recycling, so they do not tend to

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recycle. In addition, the higher the cost of e-waste recycling, the weaker the intention. We therefore
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proposed another three research hypotheses:

H7: Income of residents negatively influences recycling behaviour intentions to e-waste;

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H8: Costs of recycling negatively influence recycling behaviour intentions to e-waste;

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H9: Residential income has an impact on Costs of recycling;

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In addition, we include gender, age, and education as three demographic variables in the model

and then proposed the following hypothesis:

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H10: Gender, Age and Education have an impact on resident e-waste recycling behaviour
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intentions.
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To summarise the above hypotheses, the overall research framework is shown in Fig. 3.

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Environmental Convenience of Attitude towards

awareness (EA) recycling recycling (AR)
(CVR)

H2 H3
H1
Norms and Behavioral Income (I)
publicity H4 H7

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(NP) intention (BI)

H6 H5 H8 H9
H10

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Perceptions of Other Costs of
informal demographic recycling

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recycling (PIR) variables (CR)

Fig.3. Hypothesis framework6

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Note: Positive impact Negative impact Impact
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3.2. Questionnaire design and data collection
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At first, we designed a questionnaire to collect accurate data. Six kinds of major e-waste are
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selected as the research objects in our survey: refrigerators, air conditioning units, washing machines,
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computers, TV sets, and mobile telephones. In the introduction of our questionnaire, we clearly

emphasize the importance of the truth data to reduce invalid questionnaire. We also ensured the data
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collected only used to do scientific research and kept personal information secret.
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The main body of the questionnaire was divided into three parts. In the first part, some warm-up
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questions about the knowledge of e-waste were included. By these questions, we hope we can select

high quality questionnaires, if the responder know a little about e-waste, we will carefully consider

whether his answer is credible and quite possibly think this as an invalid questionnaire.

Based on the literature review in Section 2, the second part focused on the measurement of the

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We put forward some hypothesis to describe the effect of each variable, and the variables may have positive impact
on behavioral intention, or have negative impact, or have not positive or negative only impact.
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constructs referred in Section 3.1. We also refer to our previous studies (Wang et al., 2011; Chen et

al., 2013), and three, or four, items were set for each variable in our questionnaire to measure each

variable from different angles, and a Likert scale was used. According to the level of agreement of

respondents for each question item, including "strongly disagree", "disagree", "neutrality", "agree",

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and "strongly agree", the corresponding score was 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 respectively, and the higher the

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score, the more the respondents agreed with the item. In addition, to ensure data quality, when

designing the questionnaire, we altered the order of items in the original scale and set two trap

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questions (the same question is asked twice from different perspectives): the initial scale is

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presented in the Appendix.
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In the third part, we learned the personal information, including gender, age, education level and

monthly income, so that expediently analysed whether demographic variables affect residents
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e-waste recycling behaviour intentions.

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Then, we launched an investigation nationwide. From July to November, 2015, our survey scope
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included the seven major geographic regions in China: East China (Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang,

Shanghai), North China (Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi), Central China (Hubei, Hunan, Henan),
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South China (Guangdong, Hainan), Southwest China (Sichuan, Yunnan, Chongqing, Tibet),
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Northwest China (Shanxi, Inner Mongolia), and Northeast China (Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang),
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representing total of 22 provinces which represent almost the entire nation. During the investigation,

the responders had some doubt, for example, they did not understand some words or sentences in the

questionnaire, or they did not their monthly income. We objectively explained to ensure they did not

influence by what we said, so that they could answer every question according to their actual

situation. Finally, a total of 667 questionnaires were received. Then we screened the questionnaires

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under strict standards: as for the object of the questionnaire, research group members decided this by

mutual negotiation. After screening, we found 525 valid questionnaires, giving an effective recovery

rate of 79%. The detail information showed in Table 1.

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======INSERT TABLE 1 HERE======

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The questionnaires were divided into two groups, where one is from the urban area, and the

other is from a rural area. Then the independent samples t-test was used for the two groups

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respectively. The results showed that there was no significant difference between the two groups

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which means that they can be combined for further analysis. In addition, we analysed the 525
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samples deeply and made a descriptive statistics for the demographic variables. We found gender,

education level and monthly income were consist with China's actual conditions. About age, we
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hoped the person who written questionnaire was the master of the house and clearly knew the
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handling information of e-waste in the house. So responders between the ages of 21-45 were the
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most, followed by 46-60, and we also survey other age group, such as age under 20 or above 61. The

results of descriptive statistics showed in Table 2.

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======INSERT TABLE 2 HERE======

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3.3. Methodology

The methodology of the paper mainly contains exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and structural

equation model (SEM). At first, we used the method of EFA to test the initial scale. Then, we used

the method of SEM to carry out this research and find out the determinants of residents e-waste

recycling behaviour intentions.

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Step one: EFA is used to find out the essence of multivariate observation variable structure and

deal with dimension reduction. We mainly focused on testing the validity and analysing items, and

the specific contents were showed as follows.

Firstly, we tested the validity of the initial scale. Statistical software SPSS offers various

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statistical test methods: Bartlett's test of sphericity and a KMO test were used. The value of KMO

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was 0.738 which was greater than the critical value (0.7). The P-value in the Bartlett sphericity test

was zero which denoted that it was significant. This shows that the original items are suitable for

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factor analysis.

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Secondly, we used a principal component analysis to analyse all items. The retained factors are
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almost the same as the dimensions from the initial scale, except for items CVR4 and NP3. The two

items wrongly entered the reply to construct of Environmental awareness (EA), which did not
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conform to the concept of dimension, so we deleted CVR4 and NP3. In the reliability test of the
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revised scale, Cronbachs -value of each variable was close to, or greater than, 0.7 (see Table 3)
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indicating that modified scale had good reliability.

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======INSERT TABLE 3 HERE======

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Step two: The principle behind the SEM involves the use of some observable variables to
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measure one unobservable variable, and it can use a variety of indicators to measure the degree of fit

of the model (Swami et al., 2011).Based on the theoretical model and hypotheses proposed in the

previous section, combined with the questionnaire data mentioned in Section 3.1, we used the

method of SEM to carry out this research and used AMOS 17.0 software to establish our model.

Firstly, we tested the convergent validity, composite reliability, and content validity of each

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variable. As shown in Table 4, in this study, all of the factor loadings were greater than 0.5 and the

average variance extracted (AVE) is more than 0.5, indicating good convergent validity for the

questionnaire (Fornell and Larcker, 1981). The composite reliabilities of all constructs were greater

than 0.6, illustrating the ideal intrinsic quality of the questionnaire (Wu, 2010). Then the designers of

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the questionnaire consulted previous research settings, coupled with the advice of other experts in

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the field, thus ensuring content validity.

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======INSERT TABLE 4 HERE======

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Then, we tested the overall fitness of the model. We input the survey data into the model. After
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identification, fitting, and evaluation, we found that most fitting indicators failed to meet the

criterion and the model fit was poor, so the model required modification. Then the model was
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modified, according to suggestions from AMOS, until the goodness of fit reached an ideal level. The
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results are shown in Table 5. However, the significant probability value P of 2 is 0.022 which
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reached a significant level indicating that the fitness between the hypothesis model and sample data

was not high. We think that this may have been caused by a large sample size. Rigdon (1995)
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proposed that 2 value was affected by the estimated parameters and the number of samples. When
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using real data to evaluate the theoretical model, the 2 statistic is usually of little help. Therefore,
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when judging the fitness of the model, other suitable indicators are also needed to allow a

comprehensive judgment to be formed. From Table 5 we can see that RMSEA, NFI, CFI, and other

indicators agreed with the evaluation criteria of the overall fitness of the SEM model. Moreover, the

ratio of 2 to degree of freedom (CMIN/DF) was 1.218 which showed that the model had good

adaptation to the actual sample data. Therefore, the theoretical framework assumed in this study fits

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the actual survey data. That is to say, our model is of good external quality (Wu, 2010).

======INSERT TABLE 5 HERE======

Next, we tested the research hypotheses. The factors that significantly affect the behavioural

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intention are Environmental awareness, Attitude to recycling, Perceptions of informal recycling,

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Income and Costs of recycling. The effect of the five factors (positive or negative) is also consistent

with the hypothesis that the assumptions of H1, H3, H5, H7, and H8 are correct. The Perceptions of

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informal recycling are affected by the Norms and publicity significantly, but its effect is opposite to

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that of hypothesis H6. In addition, hypothesis H4 is not verified. This shows that the intermediate
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variable (Perceptions of informal recycling) fully mediates the impact of Norms and publicity on the

behavioural intention of residents. Hypotheses H2, H9, and H10 did not pass the test, that is to say,
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Convenience of recycling and the three demographic variables, gender, age, and educational
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background, had no significant effect on behavioural intention, and income had no effect on the cost
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of recovery.

Moreover, we analyzed the effect of the model. The causal effects between latent variables in
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structural equation models include direct effects and indirect effects. Among them, the direct effect
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is to test the hypotheses. The results of the six paths (BI<---EA, BI<---PIR, BI<---AR, BI<---I,
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PIR<---NP, BI<---CR) are significant, and their standardized regression coefficients are the direct

influence coefficients. Perceptions of informal recycling as the intermediary variable fully mediate

the impact of Norms and publicity on the behavioral intention. So the effect of Norms and publicity

is an indirect effect. Finally, the effect of the model is shown in Fig. 4.

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Environmental Attitude
awareness (EA) towards
recycling (AR)

0.186***
0.818***
Norms and

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publicity
Behavioral -0.104** Income (I)
(NP) intention (BI)

0.166** -0.174** -0.090*

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Perceptions of Costs of
informal recycling
recycling (PIR) (CR)

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Fig. 4. The effects in the model7
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Note * p < 0.1, ** p < 0.05, *** p < 0.001
Positive impact Negative impact
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4. Results and discussion

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4.1. Direct influences

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According to the testing of hypotheses (above), we know that Environmental awareness,

Attitude towards recycling, Perceptions of informal recycling, Income, and Costs of recycling pass
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the test and they significantly affect e-waste recycling behaviour intentions.
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The influence coefficient of Environmental awareness is 0.818 which is very large and its
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p-value reached a significant level (<0.001) indicating that Environmental awareness has a positive

impact on e-waste recycling behaviour intentions. According to relevant information, e-waste

contains a variety of toxic and hazardous substances, and, if handled improperly, may heavily pollute

the environment and cause serious harm to health. E-waste recycling is a meaningful act of

7
In contrast to Fig.3, we show the significant paths and their standardized regression weights in Fig.4, and the paths
which do not pass the test of significance are not showed again.
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environmental protection: if resident awareness of environmental protection grows, environmental

protection behaviour will increase, and participation in e-waste recycling activities will also grow.

Moreover, residents environmental awareness is a major construct which requires slow-training and

long concept-retention: this project not only promotes the recycling of e-waste, but helps residents to

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participate in other environmentally protective acts.

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The influence coefficient of Attitude towards recycling is 0.186 which is not very large, but its

p-value reached a significant level (<0.001) indicating that Attitude towards recycling also has

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positive impact on e-waste recycling behaviour intentions. If resident participation in e-waste

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recycling can engender satisfaction, and residents consider recycling makes a contribution to society,
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then the e-waste recycling behaviour will grow. As Environmental awareness, and Attitude towards

recycling requires cultivation in a continuous propaganda campaign for environmental protection

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only residents that believe that everyone has responsibility and obligation to contribute to e-waste
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recycling, will see their attitudes become relatively upbeat and more active.
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Many scholars believe that income positively affects e-waste recycling behavioural intentions

(Hansmann et al., 2006; Hornik et al., 2005; Tonglet et al., 2004), but Wang et al. (2011) investigated
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this in Beijing and show that income has no impact on the e-waste recycling behavioural intentions.
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However, our survey covers China's 22 provinces, and the income gap among residents is large, so
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residential income plays an important role in e-waste recycling. Our results show that residents'

income (= -0.104, P <0.05) has a negative impact on e-waste recycling behavioural intentions.

Current participants in the e-waste recycling have a corresponding interest compared to

lower-income residents, higher-income residents do not care about the benefits arising from

recycling, and they are more willing to part with the benefits to avoid the trouble and inconvenience

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of recycling. Similarly, Costs of recycling (= -0.090, P <0.1) has negative impact on e-waste

recycling behavioural intentions. If residents pay more through formal channels, they may feel

negative towards e-waste recycling, even though they do not participate in recycling through formal

channels and hold a bias towards informal recycling, discarding, or stockpiling at home.

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4.2. Indirect influences

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The results show that Perceptions of informal recycling plays only a mediating role in the

relationship between Norms and Publicity and Behaviour intention. The influence coefficient of

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Norms and Publicity is 0.166 which is not very large, but its p-value reached a significant level

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(<0.05) indicating that Norms and Publicity positively affects Perceptions of informal recycling.But
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the influence coefficient of Perceptions of informal recycling is -0.174 and its p-value also reached a

significant level (<0.05), so Perceptions of informal recycling negatively affects Behaviour

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intention.
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Many scholars believe that Norms and Publicity has positive impacts on residents behaviour
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intention of e-waste recycling, for example, Hicks et al. (2005), Fleckinger and Glachant (2010), Mo

et al.(2009) and Nnorom et al.(2009). However, we take Perceptions of informal recycling as a

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mediator factor between Norms and Publicity and Behaviour intention. We find Perceptions of
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informal recycling has negative impacts on Behaviour intention, and this result is in accord with
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common sense. But Norms and Publicity has positive impacts on Perceptions of informal recycling,

and we need combine China's actual conditions to analyse this result.

With the implementation of laws and regulations relevant to e-waste recycling, Chinese residents

have come to realise that e-waste should be recycled. Whether stockpiled at home or discarded, it

goes against the benefits of recycling e-waste, it also causes environmental pollution, and is even

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injurious to human health. Medical College of Shantou University had made a health spot check in

Guiyu Town-Shantou City-Guangdong Province where e-waste recycling and decomposition is

relatively concentrated, and 165 children aged 1 to 6 years old were tested for physical examination.

The results show that all the children's blood lead levels exceed and poison8. Considering the

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environmental protection and human health, residents begin to recycle e-waste. How to recycle more

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e-waste becomes another problem facing residents. China has 105 enterprises dismantling e-waste at

fixed-point places, but Chinese perceptions of e-waste recycling and dismantling enterprises that

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lack effective e-waste recycling channels, being poor, so residents who are willing to recycle e-waste

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have a certain distance with these regular dismantling enterprises and they cannot readily recycle
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e-waste through formal channels. The amount of dismantling waste electrical and electronic products

was 2.0085 million units by 19 May, 2014: relative to 2 hundred million units per year of major
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waste appliances, the amount of dismantling e-waste accounted for only 10% of the total. In sharp
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contrast to this, small-scale dealers engaged in e-waste recycling are very advantageous.
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Door-to-door recovery is not only very convenient, but also give the residents higher economic

compensation, so selling the e-waste to small-scale dealers has become the main mode of recycling
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for most residents.

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However, small-scale dealers engaged in e-waste recycling lack environmental awareness, and
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they are unwilling to accept government management because of the fear of losing jobs and income

(Orlins and Guan 2016). Small-scale dealers regard profit as their main purpose: instead of properly

dealing with e-waste, they sell the e-waste to "cottage industry" dismantling enterprises. These

dismantling enterprises just dismantle useful components thereof and through a lack of technology,

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most dismantling enterprises use manual disassembly, landfill, incineration, acid extraction,

dumping, and so on, which not only produce a large amount of heavy metals and toxic substances,

cause serious environmental pollution, but also cause a waste of precious resources. The economic

value of e-waste is comparable to mine, for example, a ton of ore contains about 5 grams of gold can

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be called bonanza. And in a ton of TV set, the content of gold is at least 80 grams, some as high as

150 grams, as well as copper, plastic and other renewable resources9. In the case of a market

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dominated by individual dismantling enterprises, some formal dismantling enterprises have been

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embarrassed by a situation in which they have no e-waste to dismantle. In other words, Chinas

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current e-waste recycling industry lacks formal and effective recycling channels, so that residents
AN
have to choose small-scale dealers first, although they are clearly unable to deal with e-waste

properly. In short, the lack of formal, effective, recycling channels puts a formidable obstacle in
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front of residents seeking to recycle e-waste safely, and to some extent this also hinders the
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healthy development of an improved e-waste recycling industry.

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Finally, among the four demographic variables of gender, age, education and income, only

Income has passed the hypothesis test, while gender, age and educational background have no
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influence on e-waste recycling behaviour. In the field of e-waste recycling, residents are not
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stratified by gender or age. That is, gender and age have no influence on their behaviour. Many
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scholars believe that education has a positive impact on the behavioural intention to e-waste

recycling (Hansmann et al., 2006; Hornik et al., 2005; Tonglet et al., 2004); however, the education

system in China mainly benefits examination-oriented candidates, and does not pay special attention

to the cultivation of the student consciousness of environmental protection. Education is not the

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main factor affecting residential environmental awareness, so residential levels of educational

attainment have no significant impact on the behavioural intentions towards e-waste recycling. In

addition, Convenience of recycling also did not pass the hypothesis test. Our research took "no time

to send e-waste to recycling points", "no ability to send e-waste to recycling point" and "the traffic

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inconvenience to the recovery point" to measure Convenience of recycling. The reason why

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Convenience of recycling has no significant impact on residents e-waste recycling behavioural

intentions is that, in most parts of China, especially in cities or rural areas of low economic

SC
development, there are no regular recycling points, and residents have no clear understanding of the

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recycling points anyway. So it is difficult for them to determine whether, or not, recycling points are
AN
convenient for them in their daily lives.
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5. Conclusions and policy proposals

Based on the theory of planned behaviour, we have developed a reliable scale, and investigated
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Chinese residents from Chinas seven geographic regions and 22 provinces and collect data. We
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use a structural equation model to test hypotheses: the results show that the main factors which affect
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Chinese residents e-waste recycling behaviour intentions are: Environmental awareness, Attitude

towards recycling, Perceptions of informal recycling, Income and Costs of recycling. However,
C
AC

Norms and publicity, Convenience of recycling, Gender, Age and Educational background have no

significant impact on residents e-waste recycling behaviour intentions. Moreover, Norms and

publicity indirectly affect resident behavioural intentions to e-waste recycling via the intervening

variable Perceptions of informal recycling: Norms and publicity also has a positive effect on

Perceptions of informal recycling.

The Chinese Government has made a lot of efforts towards e-waste recycling and processing,
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and these efforts have had some results (Yu et al., 2010; Yu et al. 2014; Zhang et al. 2015). However,

according to the results of this study, current Chinese participation in the recycling of e-waste is still

based on recycling informally. We believe that fundamentally improving residents environmental

awareness, standardised management of informal sectors, and improving e-waste recycling channels

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should be the focus of future work. Hence, we try to propose some policy implementations.

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First, establish and improve the laws and regulations governing e-waste management systems,

and strengthen the propaganda work around e-waste recycling and processing. According to

SC
Section 4, the governmental law and advocacy has begun to have a positive impact on the recovery

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behaviours of residents. The government should strengthen law enforcement and implement the
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regulatory responsibility, and also popularise residents knowledge of e-waste recycling and

disposal, On the legislative front, the government should formulate relevant laws and regulations,
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with clear authority given to relevant departments, regulate responsibility, implement "resources -
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products - waste" as a traditional pattern to "resources - products - renewable resources", a more

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green development model. In addition, government should develop industry standards and

environmental standards, raising the threshold of the industry, eliminate small-scale enterprises,
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delineate the responsibilities of producers, distributors, recycling processing business, consumers,

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and the government, leading to a clear producer responsibility extension management mode. In
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the aspect of propaganda, the government should further implement different forms of propaganda,

such as promotional banners, propaganda poster, and so on. Let people know of the dangers of

e-waste to the environment and human health, and thus gradually change residents habits of "run

out and throw away". At the same time, the government should strengthen the education around

public environmental protection, so that residents understand the methods of correct recovery and

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disposal of e-waste, let e-waste recycling flourish and embed harmless treatment as a part of the

lives of residents and gradually influence residential environmental awareness.

Second, encourage enterprises to participate in the formal dismantling of e-waste recycling and

processing, and improve the corresponding recycling channels. According to the results in Section 3,

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we can see that residents perceptions of informal recycling have negative effect on the behaviour

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intension significantly. According to the analysis in Section 4, we can also see the reason why

residents favour the informal sectors has two points. The first is service convenience and the second

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is higher compensation. However, the formal dismantling enterprises situation is not optimistic.

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There are more than 100 e-waste dismantling enterprises in China which have technology
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certification from various environmental protection departments, but, due to the high cost of

construction and the plight of the dismantling of goods, most companies are running at a loss. Our
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results show that the main reason for e-waste not being handed over to formal enterprises is the lack
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of convenient formal recycling channels, and lower compensation provided for consumers. On the
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one hand, government should perfect the construction of informal recycling channels, gradually

forming a multi-channel standardised recycling system, and in particular, construct e-waste recycling
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unification points in poorer areas thus increasing convenience to residents and formal dismantling
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enterprises through environmental protection by recycling e-waste; on the other hand, government
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should encourage formal dismantling enterprises to build internal recycling channels, and give

appropriate cost subsidies to that end, to promote the exchange of the interests between the

enterprise and the consumer and the formal dismantling enterprises in their active participation in

recycling and treatment of e-waste.

Third, standardise the management of e-waste recycling informal sectors, and establish a joint

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system of informal sectors and enterprises. At present, Chinas e-waste recycling processing industry

is still in an extended state, most e-waste is informally recycled. According to our research results,

the informal sectors have many advantages, such as mobility, simple recovery procedures, and the

high compensation provided for consumers, so residents favour them. . However, they did not find

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environmentally-friendly ways of properly handling recycling e-waste. Although e-waste get the

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recycling and have some progress, due to mishandling, there may be more serious environmental

pollution and even affect human health. The government should keep recovery advantages of

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informal sectors, but at the same time, standardise their management and propagate e-waste

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recycling and processing laws and regulations thereto, while promoting informal worker
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transformations to formal qualified status to play to their acknowledged current role in the e-waste

recycling chain.
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Acknowledgement
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This study is supported by the Program National Natural Science Foundation of China
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(Reference No. 71173017, 71573016, 71521002). The authors want to thank Professor Yiming Wei
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for his comments and suggestions. In particular, the authors also want to thank reviewers for their

constructive suggestions for improving the paper.

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AC

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Appendix A
Table A1
Questionnaire items

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Constructs Items
Environmental EA1 I often concerned about environmental issues.
awareness(EA) EA2 I think daily habits can affect the environment.

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EA3 I think everyone should contribute to environmental protection.

SC
Costs of CR1 I feel recyclable e-waste sell too little money.
recycling(CR) CR2 I feel traffic expenses of e-waste recycling are high.
CR3 I feel handling charges of e-waste recycling are high.

Attitude towards AR1

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E-waste recycling makes me feel very satisfied.
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recycling(AR) AR2 E-waste recycling makes contribution to the society.
AR3 E-waste recycling is everyone's responsibility.
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Norms and NP1 The publicity of e-waste recycling is in place.

publicity(NP) NP2 China laws well require residents' responsibility of e-waste
recycling.
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NP3 If my neighbors and friends are involved in e-waste recycling, I

will also participate in recycling.
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Convenience CVR1 I have no time to send e-waste to the collection point.

of recycling CVR2 I have no convenient transport to send e-waste to the collection
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(CVR) point.
CVR3 I have no ability to send e-waste to the collection point.
CVR4 I think surrounding e-waste recycling channels are incomplete.
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Perceptions of PIR1 I think selling e-waste to petty dealers is also a kind of recycling
AC

informal recycling PIR2 I think selling e-waste to petty dealers is environmentally friendly.
(PIR) PIR3 I think petty dealers could dispose e-waste properly.

Behavioral BI1 Dealing with e-waste in the future, I am willing to contact

intention(BI) voluntarily professional recycling organizations or manufacturers.
BI2 I tend to buy electronic products which promise recycling more in
the future.
BI3 I am willing to tell my friends about the experiences of e-waste
recycling.

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Tables

Table 1
Distribution of samples and the recycle rate of questionnaires

Location Issued provinces Quantities Quantities Response

of issued of responded rate

PT
questionnaire questionnaire
East China region Shandong, Jiangsu, 125 93 74%
Zhejiang, Shanghai

RI
North China region Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, 120 91 76%
Shanxi
Central China region Hubei, Hunan, Henan 105 76 72%

SC
South China region Guangdong, Hainan 44 39 89%
Southwest region Sichuan, Yunnan, 95 84 88%
Chongqing, Xizang

U
Northwest region Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia 75 67 89%
Northeast region Liaoning, Jilin, 103 75 73%
AN
Heilongjiang

Total 667 525 79%

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Table 2
Respondent profile: gender, age, education level and monthly income

Demographic Variables N Percentage %

Gender
Female 233 44.40
Male 292 55.60

PT
Age
Under 20 68 13.00
21-30 178 33.90

RI
31-45 181 34.50
46-60 84 16.00
61 or above 14 2.70

SC
Education Level
Lower secondary or below 211 40.19
Upper secondary 126 24.00

U
Bachelor's degree or Sub-degree 148 28.19
Master's degree or above 40 7.62
AN
Monthly income(RMB)
Below 2,500 77 14.70
2,501-4,000 101 19.20
M

4,001-6,000 164 31.20

6,001-8,000 63 12.00
D

8,001-10,000 34 6.50
10,001-15,000 45 8.60
TE

15,001-20,000 26 5.00
Above 20,000 15 2.90
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Table 3
The results of factor analysis and the reliability test of constructs

Constructs Items Cronbachs Alpha

Environmental awareness(EA) 3 0.751
Costs of recycling(CR) 3 0.772
Attitude of recycling(AR) 3 0.695

PT
Norms and publicity(NP) 2 0.754
Convenience of recycling(CVR) 3 0.696
Perceptions of informal recycling (PIR) 3 0.754

RI
Behavioral intention(BI) 3 0.731

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Table 4
Composite reliability and convergent validity of constructs and factor loadings of indicators

Average variance Composite

Factor
Constructs Indicators extracted reliability
loadings
(AVE) (CR)
EA1 0.627
Environmental
EA2 0.773 0.518 0.762

PT
awareness(EA)
EA3 0.751

CR1 0.540

RI
Costs of
CR2 0.840 0.528 0.765
recycling(CR)
CR3 0.765

SC
AR1 0.604
Attitude of
AR2 0.809 0.531 0.770
recycling(AR)
AR3 0.758

Norms and NP1

U
0.976
0.617 0.748
AN
publicity(NP) NP2 0.530

CVR1 0.618
Convenience of
M

CVR2 0.763 0.507 0.754

recycling(CVR)
CVR3 0.746
D

Perceptions of IR1 0.561

informal recycling IR2 0.898 0.504 0.745
TE

(PIR) IR3 0.626

BI1 0.634
Behavioral
BI2 0.702 0.506 0.753
EP

intention(BI)
BI3 0.790
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Table 5
The evaluation results of the Correction SEM model

Indicators Criterion Results Judgment

P 0.05 0.022 No
GFI 0.9 0.966 Yes
Absolute
AGFI 0.9 0.945 Yes
fit measures

PT
RMR 0.5 0.041 Yes
RMSEA 0.1 0.02 Yes

RI
NFI 0.9 0.938 Yes
Incremental CFI 0.9 0.988 Yes

SC
fit measures IFI 0.9 0.988 Yes
RFI 0.9 0.909 Yes

U
PGFI 0.5 0.605 Yes
Parsimonious PNFI 0.5 0.639 Yes
AN
fit measures PCFI 0.5 0.673 Yes
CMIN/DF 3.00 1.218 Yes
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Highlights

We explored determinants of residents e-waste recycling behavior intentions.

We investigated Chinese residents perceptions of informal e-waste recycling.

Perceptions of informal recycling influence resident behaviour intentions.

Norms and publicity has a positive impact on perceptions of informal recycling.

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