Combating Planned Obsolescence and E-Waste through Sustainable Engineering Practices in Developing Economies

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-970-4_14How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Circular economy; consumer behaviour; e-waste management; planned obsolescence; sustainable engineering practices

Abstract

In developing economies planned obsolescence (PO), and electronic waste (E-waste) are live topics of environmental and public health discourse, and this study serves to explore whether sustainable engineering practices (SEP), full utilisation of the lifespan of products, and enhancement of circularity can be implemented with consideration of the consumer, the infrastructure constraints, and the marketplace. A quantitative design was used, employing structured questionnaires administered to 300 adult consumers in Accra through systematic random sampling. Data were analysed using SPSS (v.27.0) with descriptive statistics, chi-square, and t-tests at a 0.05 significance level to identify trends, associations, and behavioural patterns related to electronics use, repair, and disposal. Findings showed a notable gap between expected and actual product lifespan (expected M = 5.08 years; actual M = 4.23 years). Frequent replacement (24.3% every 1–2 years) and high repair costs (23.3%) indicated prevalent planned obsolescence. Lack of spare parts (22%) and limited repair awareness hindered sustainability, though 57.7% of respondents expressed willingness to use refurbished devices. Awareness of e-waste hazards was moderate (M = 3.13, SD = 1.39), signalling opportunities for public education and producer accountability. The cross-sectional, self-reported design may introduce bias and restrict causal inference. Findings may not reflect rural contexts with differing economic and infrastructural realities. The study emphasizes integrating sustainable design, repair ecosystems, and extended producer responsibility to advance a circular electronics economy. Aligning consumer awareness with policy and infrastructure is crucial. This research uniquely links consumer behaviour with sustainable engineering and policy solutions tailored to developing economies.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - F. Osumanu
AU  - E. B. Osei
AU  - M. B. Arthur-Aidoo
AU  - S. N. O. Wellington
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/31
TI  - Combating Planned Obsolescence and E-Waste through Sustainable Engineering Practices in Developing Economies
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Engineering, Science, and Urban Sustainability (ICESUS 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 209
EP  - 233
SN  - 2352-5401
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-970-4_14
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-970-4_14
ID  - Osumanu2025
ER  -