9 Recycling & Waste Management Awards 2022 BUILD Yet, consumers cannot always adjust their routines to the distinct times and locations with which waste pathways operate. Unclear guidance can also confuse consumers around how to best dispose of their waste. In other cases, consumers reject the designated pathways for their waste as it would impose waste destruction over possible waste reuses. To deal with such tensions, consumers resort to keeping waste at home and, effectively, suspend, clarify, or reappropriate their waste responsibility. The authors of the Journal of Consumer Research paper also discuss the implications of their research for waste management actors as well as consumer researchers interested in consumer governance and responsibilization, consumer activism, sustainability, and waste disposal. The authors argue that to facilitate the enactment of responsible waste practices, waste pathways need to maintain consistency in their design (e.g., locations, shapes, and color schemes for waste bins) and be flexible enough to accommodate household routines (e.g., flexible opening hours, customized pick-up times, hotlines for waste integration and intelligent bins for guidance). Smart technologies could also be used to provide simple verbal and visual cues to guide consumers about how pathways work and which pathways to use for specific waste. Finally, forming strong alliances among zero waste initiatives, businesses, brands, and consumer communities (e.g., upcycling groups, swap meets, repair networks, local exchange trace systems) could enhance waste reintegration which require the mobilization of multiple capabilities (e.g., chemistry, gardening, knitting, cooking, electronic maintenance and repair). Overall, the research highlights the need for more waste guidance and flexible waste pathways to decrease the level of waste kept at home and to help consumers effectively manage their household waste.
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