Consumer´s perception regarding recycling of mobile phones: A prospective assessment in the state of São Paulo, Brazil

Consumption of mobile phones has become a consumer fever in Brazil with more than 190 million devices connected at the national market in 2010. This impressive figure leads to an important question: what is the final destination of these devices at the end of their lifecycle? The main purpose of this paper is to evaluate consumer´s behavior in terms of mobile phones discard and recycling in Brazil based on (i) a literature review of the main practices and programs involving reverse logistics of mobile phones currently in place nationwide; and (ii) a quantitative survey carried out in São Paulo state in order to seeking the consumer´s perception concerning mobile phones recycling and other factors that also influence their behavior in this regard. The survey results showed that although 60% of the respondents know that a mobile phone can be recycled, only 7% have already recycled his / her old device. It was also possible to identify the main factors that could contribute to increase the mobile phones recycling and also the most convenient collecting points according to the respondents´ answers.