Waste mobile phone hoarding and recycling barriers: a typology and insights from a large qualitative sample

Low waste mobile phone (WMP) recycling rates are a global phenomenon, including in Australia, where they persist despite recycling initiatives. Robust qualitative research has been advocated to deepen understanding of this complex sustainability issue. Accordingly, 127 Australian consumers provided insights via this study’s online focus groups and interviews. This sample size had an 80 per cent chance of capturing four or five instances of hoarding and other WMP recycling barrier themes, as relevant to 5 per cent of the population. The key non-recycling reason was WMP hoarding convenience. WMPs are easily stored and are consequently kept as a digital archive and as a standby. Significantly, WMPs are retained, as hoarding also mitigates the wide-ranging issues and risks that consumers associate with recycling. Thematic analysis identified four broad WMP recycling barrier categories, comprised of nine themes and multiple subthemes. While the broad barrier categories align with prior research, this study’s large qualitative sample further exposed the interrelated nature of WMP recycling concerns and how hoarding mitigates these. A comprehensive WMP hoarding and other recycling barriers typology is presented to inform future research and waste management strategies that focus on creating recycling benefits that outweigh the convenience of entrenched WMP hoarding behaviour.