Plastic pollution is increasingly recognized as a global challenge, prompting the EU to adopt their plastics strategy as a key element of Europe’s transition towards a carbon-neutral and circular economy. While significant efforts have been made in Europe, including the Netherlands, challenges persist in effectively managing this waste stream. Both for increasing the percentage of plastic waste in the plastic waste stream and for decreasing the portion of the separated plastic waste stream that still ends up in incinerators due to contamination. This situation stresses the importance of better understanding household waste sorting behavior and of researching effective waste management strategies as important points towards reaching higher recycling rates. This study aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the determinants that influence plastic waste recycling behavior in households and to develop a framework to categorize the behavioral costs involved in recycling behavior. An in-depth scoping review and bibliometric analysis of the scientific literature will examine both the individual-level factors and contextual factors influencing recycling behavior, including spatial (urban vs. rural) and infrastructure (pre- and post-sorting of waste streams) factors. This review will be complemented by relevant findings from the grey literature. Preliminary findings suggest that the behavioral cost associated with plastic waste recycling behavior is highly context-dependent, varying significantly with the available infrastructure. Factors such as procedural knowledge, recycling self-identity, and perceived behavioral control are critical in shaping waste sorting behavior. Interventions designed to reduce perceived efforts – for instance with environmental restructuring and targeted informational campaigns – can effectively boost participation rates and the quality of sorted waste streams. The study highlights the need for context-specific strategies in recycling behavior. Gaining a deeper understanding of the behavioral costs associated with recycling can guide policymakers in crafting more targeted interventions and policies to overcome the barriers faced by individuals in recycling their plastic waste. In conclusion, this study contributes to the field of plastic waste recycling behavior research by offering a comprehensive overview of the factors influencing recycling practices. By focusing on the behavioral costs that are associated with plastic waste recycling, valuable insights can be found for waste management practices geared towards higher plastic recycling rates by households and the inclusion of plastics in the circular economy.

Large organizations have significant impact on cities’ resource footprints. Information and communications technology (IT) plays an important role given its near-ubiquitous use, rapidly increasing demand, and environmental/social impacts from production, use, and disposal (1). This study examines organizational IT equipment use in circular transitions, specifically zooming in on influences of laptop-user perspectives on lifetime extending activities like repair, reuse, refurbishment, and reducing premature replacement. IT decision-makers previously reported pressure from users to prematurely replace laptops with newer, upgraded, or more stylish devices and to purchase higher-capacity laptops than needed for employees’ work, resulting in higher than necessary material and energy consumption (2). Given preferences for new devices, it is also unclear how offering/assigning refurbished devices would be received. Current literature discusses replacement behavior for personal laptops (3) but does not uncover how user perspectives differ and influence company-owned laptop lifetimes. Differences in ownership and responsibility (e.g., paying for repairs and replacements versus the company paying) is likely to result in important behavioral differences. This ongoing study uses 45-minute, semi-structured interviews with ~25 users of company-owned laptops. Participants were selected through a combination of snowball sampling in project partner organizations and utilization of our university consumer panel. Interviewees were asked to discuss expectations on device features and expected lifetimes of laptops, which factors influence their device choices, whether and how they consider circularity in choices and use habits, and which factors increase acceptance of lifetime extensions. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and coded. Preliminary results suggest that for average employees using low-powered programs like email and video conferencing, choosing work laptops mainly involves consideration of physical features, such as size or keyboard layout. Although interviewees acknowledged the importance of circular IT features (e.g., long-lifetime, refurbishment, repairability, recycled material content, etc.), these features were not decision-making factors when choosing their most recent work laptop. Furthermore, preliminary results suggest that presenting circularity information using tools like digital product passports may encourage more circular choices, such as choosing laptops with circular features, choosing refurbished laptops, or opting for repair over replacement. Most interviewees were not offered refurbished devices, however, a large majority said that if given information on the machine’s performance compared to the needed performance of their specific work tasks, as well as benefits of circularity, they would be likely to choose a refurbished laptop. Their preferences for repair or replacement were largely time-dependent, choosing repair when the time taken does not interfere with their work. Our results contribute to broader understanding of factors influencing the lifetime of laptops used by organizations, thereby helping cities to encourage circular transitions. *references in pdf attachment*