José Hidalgo Crespo

The home appliances sector’s role in the depletion of critical raw materials and electrical and electronic waste generation highlights the need for different circular business models. Use-oriented product-as-a-service (PaaS) leasing model offers a great opportunity for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to provide customers access to different appliances while guarding the ownership, facilitating to close the supply chain. However, one major obstacle in the adoption of PaaS leasing models is consumers lack of trust. This is particularly true in developing countries such as Ecuador, where the culture of ownership is well attached in their consciousness. Supported in the theory of planned behavior (TPB) through the incorporation of subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and attitude towards behavior, driving the intentions to behave ecologically, this research presents an extended framework by incorporating two additional constructs, environmental consciousness and external influences in moderation and mediation roles, respectively, to predict consumers’ leasing intentions. By using the data from 1,026 home owners in Ecuador and through partial least square structural equation model (PLS-SEM), the findings reveal that attitude towards behavior (β = 0.492, p < 0.001) and subjective norms (β = 0.347, p < 0.001) are the most important drivers of intentions to behave ecologically, explaining almost 68% of its variance. The high explained variance of consumers’ leasing intentions (65%) supports the important role of intentions to behave ecologically bridging the intention-behavior gap. Environmental consciousness acts as a powerful moderator showing that the intention-behavior gap is lower for high conscious individuals. External influences play a partial mediation between intentions and behaviors, fortifying but not being fully accounted for their relationship. Policymakers and OEMs should focus on advertising the environmental benefits of the model and the intrinsic benefits for the individuals adopting them (energy savings, cost reduction, access to high-performant appliances) providing incentives to enhance positive attitudes and peer acceptance to encourage the eco-friendly leasing option.

This study examines the domestic solid waste management system in the LATAM region, using the city of Guayaquil in Ecuador as a case study. Through the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology, the study compares domestic and external recycling processes, evaluating their effects on global warming potential, fossil resource scarcity, and terrestrial ecotoxicity. The results reveal that increasing recycling rates significantly reduces environmental impacts, with domestic recycling offering slightly higher environmental benefits than external options. A demographic analysis using machine learning techniques identifies distinct patterns of waste generation across different population clusters, highlighting the need for tailored waste management strategies. The study also emphasizes the importance of accurate local data and the integration of recycling initiatives with market realities, particularly in the light of policies mandating recycled content in products like PET bottles. A sensitivity analysis of the waste recovery indicator (WRI) demonstrates the potential for substantial environmental and economic benefits with higher recycling rates. The findings suggest that, to advance towards a circular economy, Latin American cities like Guayaquil must enhance their recycling infrastructure, refine waste management policies, and focus on demographic-specific strategies. This research contributes to the broader understanding of sustainable waste management in developing regions, offering insights for future policy and infrastructure development.

This study tackles the growing global concern about municipal waste management, particularly in cities like the Grand Guayaquil Metropolitan Area (GGA). Through realistic field studies on in situ household waste generation and geographic information system (GIS) tools, this work offers a framework to predict the quantities and types of recyclable household waste for any metropolitan area in Latin America. Over 4 weeks, students collected, sorted and weighed recyclable waste types, including plastic, paper, metal, glass and fabric, from 776 sampled household of the GGA. ArcGIS survey tool identified household locations and allowed to survey different socio-demographic features. With the help of ArcGIS interpolation method, the total household waste generation for GGA was predicted, and the classification of the different types of recyclable waste was also spatially distributed for the study area. The report identified notable trends in plastic waste, specifically polyethylene terephthalate waste’s steady prevalence and 42% growth rate, emphasizing the importance of enhanced recycling techniques. Spatial density maps showed a heterogeneous waste distribution across the GGA, emphasizing locations with higher waste output. This study demonstrates that improving recyclable waste collection can be accomplished with a moderately cheap expenditure by collaborating with academia to overcome knowledge gaps. This strategy provides opportunities to mitigate the environmental impacts of poor waste management.