Applying behavioural economics to exploit materials from university distinct urban mines
Applying behavioural economics to exploit materials from university distinct urban mines
The European Union is concerned about potential future scarcity of ferrous and non-ferrous materials. However, it already has potentially rich reserves of secondary materials via high ownership of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE). Young people are particularly high consumers of EEE. Hence university students and campuses may present an opportunity to harness this potential. University Distinct Urban Mines (DUM’s) may be used as an exemplar of a powerful concept to tap into potential reserves of secondary metals, and demonstrate one way in which we could potentially transition from a linear to a circular economy. This study aimed to evaluate a category 2 Waste of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) DUM from a UK university. A quantitative survey was undertaken in 2011 to assess students’ ownership and discarding behaviour with respect to small household appliances (SHA). The amounts of ferrous and non-ferrous materials were then estimated and converted to monetary values from the secondary materials market data to estimate the overall value of this DUM. We conclude that a total of 188 tonnes of ferrous and non-ferrous materials were available via discarding or being stockpiled at the University of Southampton in 2011. Extrapolated at UK higher education level, discarded and stockpiled PCA's represent a potential worth 9 million Euros approximately and a majority of broken personal care appliances (PCA’s) were discarded in the general refuse. To divert broken PCA's from landfill we suggest improving users’ choice architecture by proposing collection methods specific to broken WEEE.
Pierron, Xavier
d863fe82-bf11-4076-bd48-10ab63e50373
Williams, Ian
c9d674ac-ee69-4937-ab43-17e716266e22
Shaw, Peter
935dfebf-9fb6-483c-86da-a21dba8c1989
Cleaver, V.
0bd2e028-9368-45c2-8554-90f8cd0eaef4
24 May 2016
Pierron, Xavier
d863fe82-bf11-4076-bd48-10ab63e50373
Williams, Ian
c9d674ac-ee69-4937-ab43-17e716266e22
Shaw, Peter
935dfebf-9fb6-483c-86da-a21dba8c1989
Cleaver, V.
0bd2e028-9368-45c2-8554-90f8cd0eaef4
Pierron, Xavier, Williams, Ian, Shaw, Peter and Cleaver, V.
(2016)
Applying behavioural economics to exploit materials from university distinct urban mines.
Symposium on Urban Mining and Circular Economy, , Bergamo, Italy.
23 - 25 May 2016.
Record type:
Conference or Workshop Item
(Paper)
Abstract
The European Union is concerned about potential future scarcity of ferrous and non-ferrous materials. However, it already has potentially rich reserves of secondary materials via high ownership of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE). Young people are particularly high consumers of EEE. Hence university students and campuses may present an opportunity to harness this potential. University Distinct Urban Mines (DUM’s) may be used as an exemplar of a powerful concept to tap into potential reserves of secondary metals, and demonstrate one way in which we could potentially transition from a linear to a circular economy. This study aimed to evaluate a category 2 Waste of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) DUM from a UK university. A quantitative survey was undertaken in 2011 to assess students’ ownership and discarding behaviour with respect to small household appliances (SHA). The amounts of ferrous and non-ferrous materials were then estimated and converted to monetary values from the secondary materials market data to estimate the overall value of this DUM. We conclude that a total of 188 tonnes of ferrous and non-ferrous materials were available via discarding or being stockpiled at the University of Southampton in 2011. Extrapolated at UK higher education level, discarded and stockpiled PCA's represent a potential worth 9 million Euros approximately and a majority of broken personal care appliances (PCA’s) were discarded in the general refuse. To divert broken PCA's from landfill we suggest improving users’ choice architecture by proposing collection methods specific to broken WEEE.
This record has no associated files available for download.
More information
Published date: 24 May 2016
Venue - Dates:
Symposium on Urban Mining and Circular Economy, , Bergamo, Italy, 2016-05-23 - 2016-05-25
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 432175
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/432175
PURE UUID: b061d0f3-9288-4493-99e8-fb19f0424526
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 03 Jul 2019 16:30
Last modified: 23 Jul 2022 01:54
Export record
Contributors
Author:
V. Cleaver
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics
