AWARENESS OF PLASTIC RECYCLING OF GAMINGE-WASTE FROM A CONSUMER PERSPECTIVE : A CASE STUDY OF GAMING GEAR USAGE IN SWEDEN, WITH A LIFE CYCLE ANALYSIS

Sammanfattning: Climate change is a rising concern worldwide. One of United Nations’ (UN) 17 sustainable development goals is Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production which states that developed countries take the lead on showing the path for substantially reducing waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling, and reuse (UN, 2015). With the goal in mind, it is important for countries like Sweden to navigate towards a more sustainable world. This is especially relevant for fast growing industries such as gaming and esport. As gaming grows, consumption of gaming gear such as mice and keyboard increase multifold since these peripherals are consumption products with constant performance updates. The purpose with this paper is to understand gamers awareness regarding recycling and how they view sustainability and recycling options of their gaming gear, specifically gaming mice, and keyboards. This paper also aims to understand what options consumers must contribute to less e-waste. The method of choice in this paper to better understand gamers perspective has been with qualitative research and an abductive approach. The gamers who answered the survey were found in Discord communities where they varied in both age and how often they play – from hobby gamers to professional. The results, from 40 gamers in Sweden, show that gamers today do not rely much on price or sustainability factors when purchasing their gaming gear. Non-functional gaming gear is often immediately disposed of with no consideration of recycling. A proposal in this paper is for producers to improve their communication with consumers to increase consumers sustainability awareness, or an e-waste management system brought forward by Swedish initiatives similar to the system of recycling drinking bottles. In conclusion, this paper contributed to literature by setting ground for future studies of how to increase awareness to generate more sustainable conscious consumers in emerging markets. At the same time, this paper provides ideas of how businesses and producers can improve their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by helping to create more consumer awareness to minimize products environmental impact.