Managing plastic waste disposal by assessing consumers' recycling behavior: the case of a densely populated developing country

The rapid increase in urbanization has given rise to the need of proper waste management. Within municipal waste, the plastic waste is a growing concern which is causing severe harm to our ecosystem. If ignored, this problem will have harmful effects on both human and wildlife. Therefore, this study aims to find out the factors that influence the recycling behavior patterns of consumers regarding plastic waste. The variables from the theory of planned behavior were adopted to study the behavior of consumers toward recycling plastic waste. The data was collected from 243 residents of Karachi-metropolitan city of Pakistan. The partial least square-structural equation modelling was applied to analyze the data. The findings of the current study reveal that different consumers' attributes and attitudes trigger different types of recycling behavior when it comes to waste disposal. Pressure from family and friends and perceived behavioral control trigger the behavior of reselling the waste plastic products while consumer's awareness of consequences and personal attitude toward proper waste disposal leads to reuse or donating that product to someone who can use that plastic product. The understanding of these consumer attributes may help to shape the behavioral outcomes in order to manage waste disposal. This study will be beneficial for business managers looking to improve reverse logistics as well as government/municipal policy makers and academics/researchers who are interested in a solution-oriented study.