A study on the society's approach to the disposal and recycling of electronic wastes

Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (e-waste) is expired materials containing one or more electrical transmission elements. If these waste materials are not evaluated according to their qualities, they pose a problem for the environment, human health and the country's economy. Environmental concern, empathy and moral norm values are important to ensure awareness and proper disposal of e-waste. In this context, in the current study, a survey was conducted based on concepts such as empathy, personal moral norm scales, awareness and responsibility towards the environment in order to measure the awareness level and behaviors of the society on e-waste and the environment. By applying the "IBM SPSS Statistics 25" program to the data obtained in the study, reliability analysis, normality distribution analysis, correlation and regression analyzes, independent sample T Test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were performed. In this way, the results of the survey, which allow the determination of the level of consciousness of the society on e-waste, environmental concern, empathy and moral norms for the environment, have enabled the scales to be evaluated within themselves and to determine to what extent they are affected by socio-demographic factors. According to the results of the study, environmental concern (p=0.000; R=0.417), awareness of environmental pollution (p=0.000; R=0.883), environmental responsibility (p=0.000; R=0.655), personal moral norm (p=0.000; R =0.576) and educational status (p=0.005; R=0.215), a significant relationship was found between empathy and moral norm. In addition, the idea of limited growth (p=0.000; R=0.808), non-anthropocentrism (p=0.000; R=0.593), fragility of nature's balance (p=0.000; R=0.569), educational status (p=0.001; R=0.262) and having a child (p=0.000; R=-0.290) were also found to be significantly correlated with environmental concern. However, when demographic criteria are examined, there is a significant relationship between marital status and environmental concern (p=0.000, F=9.085), empathy and moral norm (p=0.040, F=3.283). Single participants were found to have more environmental concern and empathy and moral norms than participants who were married and chose other options. A significant relationship was also found between age ranges and empathy and moral norm (p=0.049, F=2.435). It was determined that the participants with the most empathy and moral norms were between the ages of 35-44. However, no significant relationship was found between gender, income level and having a child, environmental concern, empathy and moral norm.