Strategic exploration of battery waste management: A game-theoretic approach

Electronic waste or e-waste is the fastest growing stream of solid waste today. It contains both toxic substances as well as valuable resources. The present study uses a non-cooperative game-theoretic approach for efficient management of e-waste, particularly batteries that contribute a major portion of any e-waste stream and further analyses the economic consequences of recycling of these obsolete, discarded batteries. Results suggest that the recycler would prefer to collect the obsolete batteries directly from the consumer rather than from the manufacturer, only if, the incentive return to the consumer is less than 33.92% of the price of the battery, the recycling fee is less than 6.46% of the price of the battery, and the price of the recycled material is more than 31.08% of the price of the battery. The manufacturer's preferred choice of charging a green tax from the consumer can be fruitful for the battery recycling chain.