Abstract
The municipal waste recycling rate is lagging the goal in several EU countries. In smart cities, technological enablers can activate sustainable consumer behavior and better waste sorting by households. In fact, individual consumers are in the key role in efficient waste recycling, they have an impact on the quality and volume of materials delivered to mixed waste or separate collection points. Sorting at the source refers to the waste sorting at households, aiming to minimize the amount of mixed waste and increase the amount of materials delivered in separate collection points. In this paper, we aim to study how digital tools could increase the recycling activity of consumers and households. Research data was collected by surveys and interviews in November–December 2023 in Finland. An app, as a digital tool, is a way to connect consumer and waste management service provider that can motivate consumers to recycle. Our results show the need for user centric design and the user-friendliness was the most important feature for app.
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This research was supported by the European Regional Development Fund Project Participatory Design of Source Separation in Recycling (A80574).
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Järvenpää, AM., Jussila, J., Rantala, P., Koskela, O., Kunttu, I. (2026). Digital Tools and Gamification to Improve the Consumers’ Waste Recycling Activity in Smart Cities. In: Visvizi, A., Troisi, O., Corvello, V., Grimaldi, M. (eds) Research and Innovation Forum 2024. RIIFORUM 2024. Springer Proceedings in Complexity. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-78623-5_31
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