Tejasvi S's Senior Project Blog
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Project Title: Consumer Behavior's Impact on E-waste Management. BASIS Advisor: Amy Anderson Internship Location: Global Electronic Recycling Onsite Mentor: Andy Guzman, Director of Operations |
Project Abstract
Given the surge of tech companies in Phoenix, Arizona, the research focuses on Arizona State University (ASU) and Maricopa Community Colleges, the most attended colleges in the region. The survey is distributed among undergraduate students from various backgrounds in classes related to sustainability and biology. This study aims to provide comprehensive insights into what factors, i.e. demographics, prior knowledge, access, etc. play a role in whether or not one participates in e-waste management. The survey focuses specifically on personal electronic devices (phones, laptops, video game consoles) for the purpose of data collection. By understanding students' perspectives, the research aims to contribute valuable insights into shaping effective e-waste management strategies in this dynamic and growing technological landscape.
Conclusion
Hello Everyone! I just wanted to take this post to appreciate everyone that has helped me in this journey! Firstly, I would like to thank Ms. Anderson for helping me and guiding me through the building of this research project. I would also like to thank Ms. Bennett for guiding me through the senior project... Read More
Week 10: Conclusions
Hello Everyone! This blog will be about the conclusions derived from this research project. The original hypothesis was that the awareness of policies and regulations, and awareness of e-waste recycling infrastructure and campaigns would have the most impact on whether students participate in e-waste management. However, this hypothesis was rejected as the data collected from... Read More
Week 9: Data Analysis
Hello Everyone! This week we will be talking about the data analysis portion of this research. According to the analysis of the data, there were 4 factors that played an impact on the student’s willingness to properly recycle their e-waste: Knowledge of e-waste: Do they know what e-waste is? According to the contingency tests conducted,... Read More
Week 8: Results
Hey everyone! This week we will talk about the survey results! The survey was open for about a month’s time from November to December 2023, and received 105 responses. About ~62% of the respondents were female and ~38% of respondents were male. About ~77% of responses were from ASU and ~23% were from the Maricopa... Read More
Week 7: Methodology
Hey everyone! Welcome to Week 7 of the senior Project blog! I will be talking about the methodology that I used for my project this week. The methodology includes passing out a survey to the undergraduate students at ASU and Gateway Community College through their respective professors. The professor at ASU teaches Introduction to Sustainability... Read More
Week 6: Health Impact
Hello! Welcome to week 6 of the senior project blog! The last blob was about the environmental impact e-waste has. This week we will go into the adverse impact on human health. E-waste that is not formally recycled causes adverse health effects on the human body. Previous experiments have been conducted with each testing a... Read More
Week 5: Environmental Impact
Hello! Welcome to the week 5 blog! This week I will be talking about the environmental issues that is caused by e-waste exposure. E-waste causes extremely negative impacts on the environment. Most of the research regarding the environmental impact has been done in 3 areas: the soil, air, and water. Contaminants from e-waste processing sites... Read More
Week 4: An Ideal Solution Pt. 2
Hello everyone! Welcome to week 4 of this blog! We will begin were we left off with the circular economy. As a reminder, the first two parts were the production the of e-waste and consumer usage. 3. The recycling: The third step is the recycling portion. There are three sections to this: formal recycling, informal... Read More
Week 3: An Ideal Solution pt. 1
Hello everyone! This blog we will be discussing the circular economy: an ideal, yet unacheivable solution to e-waste management. This blog will focus on the first 2 parts of the circular economy with the last two parts being discussed in the following blog. A circular economy is an ideal, cyclic system where all the e-waste... Read More
Week 2: Types of E-waste
Hello again! In this blog I will be talking about the different types of e-waste recycling... E-waste management mostly occurs in two different methods: Formal recycling and informal recycling. Formal recycling, in simple terms, is a way of recycling e-waste that is safe and does no harm to the environment. However, formal recycling is a... Read More
Week 1: Starting off with the Internship
Hello everyone! Welcome to the first week of the senior project blog! This week, I got to start my internship at my site placement (Global Electronic Recycling). Global Electronics Recycling aka GER, is a e-waste recycling center where they accept e-waste from multiple entities, ranging from corporate businesses to private recyclers. An interesting fact that... Read More
Introduction
Hello everyone! Welcome to my blog! My name is Tejasvi Sanikommu, and this blog will be reflecting on my Senior Research Project. My research project is about e-waste and consumer behavior. E-waste is electronic waste, aka end-of-life waste. This essentially includes any device that can be plugged in, has batteries, or has any type of... Read More