**3. Consumers in a closed loop supply chain for EEE (***e***CLSC)**

Considering the timeliness of understanding consumer behaviour in *e*CLSC, in this section, we aim to contribute to the said literature by (1) providing an overview of the topic, (2) building a holistic conceptualisation of the role of the consumer in *e*CLSC and (3) developing a consumer-behaviour-focused taxonomy of EEE categories.

Consumers are not only the engine that can fuel the success of *e*CLSC through their behaviour and decision making, they are also one of the core receptors of the health, environmental and even ethical benefits that *e*CLSC can help achieve. The case of WEEE magnifies this relationship given the widely observed tendency of consumers to stockpile (i.e. hoard) replaced equipment, even in cases when the products are broken, due to a combination of overvaluing discarded EEE and a lack of WEEE management infrastructure. Given the typical hazardous and toxic elements contained in most EEE, this tendency constitutes an important health risk, directly for them, and an environmental risk to ecological systems and society. As such, it is not surprising that EEE stockpiling has been reported to score among the top urgent and important issues within the context of WEEE management [4].

Addressing this issue can be viewed as an opportunity to progress in other global issues, such the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), by enhancing proper WEEE recovery and reuse at end-of-use (EoU)<sup>7</sup> , particularly on the consumers'side. The latter has also been identified as a key challenge for WEEE management [4] and its connection to SDG highlights the potential environmental and social benefits of improving recovery of discarded EEE from consumers. Moreover, since there is space for improvement in the retrieval of discarded EEE from consumers in Europe,

<sup>6</sup> http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/product?code = env\_waselee&language = en.

<sup>7</sup> By end-of-use we mean the time when some EEE goes from being in-use, to being out-of-use. Conversely, end-of-life is taken to identify the moment when the EEE in question ceases to function properly, leading to its end-of-use.

## *Urban Mining of e-Waste and the Role of Consumers DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.100363*

the stock of WEEE in urban environments is currently underexploited. Along these lines, urban mining, which relates to the recovery of materials from discarded EEE, could improve significantly if consumer behaviour shifts towards the extension of products', parts' and materials' useful lifetimes.

Stockpiling of EEE by consumers is envisaged to worsen as more appliances become smart and are given internet-access capabilities. These raise data protection considerations which, if not studied and communicated correctly, can pose a further barrier for consumer returns of WEEE due to fear of personal data breaches. Additional ethical considerations are attached to the issue of increasing technical obsolescence, whereby equipment becomes functionally impaired, due to the fast technological advancements and marketing which continuously contributes to the creation of new consumer needs. This leads to the premature replacement of EEE which is also more likely to be overvalued and stockpiled. These examples highlight the fast pace at which consumer behaviour evolves with technological advancement.

Finally, empirical findings suggest that the same theoretical models applied to different EEE categories have substantially different results, e.g. [30, 31]. Despite the important implications of these findings, there are no studies synthesising the characteristics of EEE categories that account for substantial differences in consumer behaviour. Specifically, there is no framework for the systematic differentiation between EEE categories with respect to their physical, functional and symbolic characteristics' influences on consumer behaviour.

Therefore, in this section, we aim to answer the following research question: What EEE characteristics are most significant in pre-conditioning *e*CLSC-relevant consumer behaviour and the processes behind it?
