This dissertation seeks to identify an ecology of knowledge to serve as a theoretical lens for understanding the state of the electronic waste management industry in the United States. Semi-structured interviews of stakeholder groups such as e-waste recyclers, manufacturers, government agencies, refurbishers, and other interested organizations were used to determine the current status of used electronics management in the US. The focus is on how the electronics reuse and recycling industry is being affected by the rapid changes in consumer electronic device technology as well as the lack of recycling infrastructure, insufficient consumer engagement with electronics reuse and repair, and inconsistent regulation. The stakeholders which are being impacted by the changing industry are also participating in shaping it either in terms of initiating the changes, or in how they are reacting and adapting to them. Furthermore, electronics reuse and recycling have been widely considered two aspects of the same industry despite increasing evidence of bifurcation and competition for material flows. Based on stakeholder response, the ecology of knowledge that exists within this industry suggests that recyclers should shift their business to incorporate more repair and resale in addition to recycling to remain profitable. Case studies involving participant observation, additional semi-structured interviews, and policy comparisons were utilized to serve as representations for the three primary stakeholder groups: electronics recyclers, electronics refurbishers, and government agencies regulating electronics recycling and e-waste disposal. These three stakeholder groups and their ability to capture electronics at the end of their useful life drive the percentage of discarded electronics which are recycled or reused. The used electronics infrastructure, institutions, and stakeholder networks along with the knowledge generated within make-up an ecology of knowledge which explains how changes in newer consumer electronic devices are antagonistic to recycling systems couched in a slow-to-change scrap industry. Intellectual property laws prevent the repair and reuse of used electronic devices. Finally, inconsistent, patchwork e-waste recycling laws do not sufficiently capture used electronics at the end of their useful life. These factors have had a significant impact on the larger socio-technical system of end-of-life consumer electronic device management in the United States.

The proliferation of plastic has created a wicked global sustainability challenge. From the extraction of fossil fuels to end-of-life management and pollution, plastic imposes significant negative impacts to human health, economic well-being, and the environment. One proposed solution is to replace conventional plastic with biomass-based plastics and plastic alternatives (BBPAs), such as paper or bio-based plastics. While these products may have advantageous properties, they require biomass as a feedstock. Given the scale of the plastics problem, this biomass demand may be significant. In my dissertation, I evaluate the magnitude of biomass required, and assess the potential impact of this biomass demand on global land use. After examining the scope and the scale of the problem in chapter one, I evaluate the assumptions that have been made regarding the land-use impacts of BBPAs in chapter two. In chapter three, I use a global land-system model (CLUMondo) to evaluate the potential land-use change of large-scale production of BBPAs. In chapter four, I evaluate how certification schemes could be used as a policy tool to mitigate the land-use impacts of bio-based alternatives. I find that the current studies evaluating the land-use impacts of these products make optimistic and unrealistic assumptions regarding land-use. Using a global model, I show how high production scenarios of BBPAs could induce significant land-use change at the global level. Finally, I demonstrate that reliance on certification schemes would likely be insufficient to prevent negative impacts from this scale of land change. Overall, this dissertation suggests that large-scale replacement of plastic with BBPAs could incur significant land-use impacts. Policies designed to mitigate the impacts of plastic need to account for this impact to land-use, lest they risk substituting one global problem for another.

Marine plastic pollution (MPP) has emerged as one of the most pressing global environmental challenges of the anthropocene. There has been an upsurge in investment to mitigate MPP; however, interventions can be costly, inequitable, and ineffective in achieving their objectives. In my dissertation, I aim to research key considerations for creating cost-effective, equitable mitigation strategies for MPP and its impacts to marine biodiversity and coastal communities. In chapter one, I introduce the challenges plastic pollution poses. In chapter two, I use seascape ecology theory to present the concept of the plastic-scape and describe how seascape ecology principles, methods, and approaches to transdisciplinary science can inform research to mitigate MPP. In chapter three, I present a framework to help decision makers estimate the total cost of MPP interventions and partial costs accrued by stakeholder groups. I then apply this framework to two quantitative case studies and four comparative case studies to exemplify its use and highlight the ways spatial scale, temporal scale, and socio-economic conditions influence the intervention cost and cost distribution. In chapter four, I employ a trait-based approach to produce a framework for developing indices of species vulnerability to macroplastic pollution. Finally, in chapter five, I implement the framework developed in the previous chapter and present a multi-taxonomic, macroplastic vulnerability index for three marine taxa—mammals, birds, and turtles—to identify the marine species most vulnerable to macroplastic pollution in Hawai‘i. Overall, my dissertation shows how policy-driven, systemic research of MPP and its interventions can improve efforts to address MPP and its socio-economic and ecological consequences.

Design for sustainability and design to change habits are two areas that have been explored separately. Design for sustainable behavior has started to be researched for different purposes. This research focuses on how we interact with objects to reinforce sustainable actions, focused on low-waste drinking water consumption using Water Bottle Filling Stations. Things do not work the same in different contexts, even if they are targeted at a similar group of people in two different countries. In consequence, the habits around particular objects change as well. This research is part of a bi-cultural study on the relationship between users and Water Bottle Filling Stations in universities, sites where these devices have been installed to promote healthy habits and encourage sustainable practices in their population. This is to evaluate the use of current nudges attached to the design attributes on the artifact.Using mixed methods, this research explored the possibility of using Water Bottle Filling Stations to create and reinforce habits in the user’s routine and the consequences with the aid of nudges. To understand these behaviors, populations from a college in Mexico and a college in the United States were subjects of study to understand the implications of using Water Bottle Filling Stations as a device that, by design, promotes reusability as a circular economy strategy. The following research did not aim to redesign the entire system but evaluate the impact of current nudges and design attributes on the artifact, how habits have affected culture, and supply a list of findings and recommendations.

Through Zero Waste at ASU, the Villas & Vista del Sol Community Compost Program (VVDS CCP) has been in operation for three years. Programs such as this one have been identified as a priority by the university due to the significance of food waste in the waste stream ASU produces and the opportunity to reduce climate impact by diverting this waste from landfill. However, the CCP has struggled to reach its participation targets throughout its time in operation and therefore ASU requires better understanding of marketing strategies that will lead to program success before investing in additional residential compost programs. This thesis addresses the fundamental question: What marketing and operational strategies are most effective within a residential composting program at Arizona State University? Using a combination of literature review, qualitative primary research, and experimentation, this thesis provides an explanation of how the university can effectively implement and grow residential composting programs.

The once thriving American textile industry has been offshored almost entirely. The few domestic mills that remain tend to be specialized; there is no dominant player. As the global environment becomes increasingly unpredictable, the benefits of offshoring are lessening. Raising concerns over sustainability, employee welfare and intellectual property have the potential to shift the current pattern of offshoring. Impulsive tariffs and rising international wages add to the uncertainty. To eliminate many of these concerns, new textile mills should be developed in the United States. Many businesses have expressed desire and need for a new American mill to help them meet their goals. Due to strict regulations, domestic production is inherently more environmentally and socially proactive. In order for this mill to succeed, it must be based on automation and sustainable practices.

ABSTRACT

Historically, Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) guided companies to make better decisions to improve the environmental impacts of their products. However, as new Circular Economy (CE) tools emerge, the usefulness of LCA in assessing linear products grow more and more obsolete. Research Question: How do LCA-based tools account for reuse/multiple life cycles of products verses CE-based tools?

The Kaiteki Innovation Framework (KIF) was used to address the question of circularity of two packaging materials using an Environmental LCA to populate its 12 CE dimensions. Any gaps were evaluated with 2 LCA- based and 2 CE-based tools to see which could address the leftover CE dimensions.

Results showed that to complete the KIF template, LCA data required one of the LCA-based tools: Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) and both CE-based tools: Circular Transition Indicators (CTI) and Material Circularity Indicator (MCI) to supplement gaps in the KIF. The LCA addressed 5 of the KIF dimensions: Innovation Category Name, Description, GHG Impact, Other Environmental Impacts, and Value Chain Position. 3 analytical tools addressed 5 more:: Effect on Circularity, Social Impacts, Enabling Technologies, Tier 2 and 3 Requirements, and Value Chain Synergies. None of the tools could address the KIF Dimensions: State of Development or Scale Requirements. All in all, the KIF required both LCA-based and CE-based tools to cover social and socio-economic impacts from a cradle-to-cradle perspective with multiple circular loops in mind. These results can help in the research and development of innovative, circular products that can lead to a more environmentally preferred future.

Firms have increasingly taken on the commitment to sustainability due to environmental and social concerns. Environmental and social sustainability can create firm value and social welfare through cost reduction and revenue growth. While indicating a desire to do more, firms face challenges while engaging with stakeholders in their supply chains – suppliers and consumers. Suppliers are key partners to achieve cost reduction while customers can be the driver for revenue growth. If firms do not overcome the challenges properly, such a win-win situation of both firms and their supply chain stakeholders may not exist. This dissertation aims to understand and suggest ways to overcome the challenges which firms and their supply chain stakeholders face while collaboratively pursuing sustainability.

In the first essay, I investigate the financial impact of a buyer-initiated supplier-focused sustainability improvement program on suppliers’ profitability. The results indicate that a supplier sustainability program may lead to short-term financial loss but long-term financial gain for suppliers, and this effect is contingent on supplier slack resources. The second essay of this dissertation focuses on the consumers and investigates their reactions to two types of firm environmental sustainability claims – sustainable production versus sustainable consumption. The results indicate that firm sustainable consumption claims increase consumers’ purchase, thus leads to larger firm sales, whereas firm sustainable production claims decrease consumers’ buying intention, then result in smaller firm sales. Therefore, I show that, contrary to extant belief, firm environmental sustainability can decrease consumers’ intention to buy. Finally, a firm may be impacted when some of its upstream or downstream stakeholders, or its own operations, are impacted by a natural disaster, which are becoming more frequent due to climate change. In the third essay I study the joint effect of market attention and donation timing on firm stock returns based on the experiences of firms who donated to the 2017 Hurricane Harvey. I conclude that neither the first donors nor the followers can mitigate the negative stock returns due to disasters. However, firms who match their donation timing with market attention experience less negative stock market returns compared to other counterparts.

The circular economy is viewed as a solution to many of the environmental and social ills that the linear economy has exacerbated. Whether it is through refill solutions or redesigning a cardboard shipping container, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) brands are rethinking the way their products are delivered to consumers through business model innovations that promote circularity. The consumer plays the important, often overlooked, role of enabler within circular business models. This study aims to increase broader understanding of what motivates circular consumption of fast-moving consumer goods while analyzing the relationship between motivators and the behaviors required to participate. Semi-structured interviews provide insights from consumers who are currently purchasing household cleansers from brands that operate with a circular business model. Results from this study highlight a group of consumers that are distinguished by their common desire to reduce their personal consumption of plastics. There is clear indication that these consumers are in fact seeking out ways to consume more sustainably. A significant subset of this group expresses concern regarding ingredients used in the products. Health concerns for themselves, their family, or a pet are driving a desire to understand product ingredients. There is evidence to indicate that the concern for personal consumption of plastics is being driven by information distributed via social media and supported by targeted advertisements for brands that address this concern.

As the world becomes more globalized and interconnected, foreign investment has become a popular way to enter new markets, to facilitate trade, and to stay competitive. As more and more companies are looking to expand internationally, it is important to understand how economic, political, infrastructural, competence, and socioeconomic factors of a region can and should impact these investments and investment decisions. Through a comparative analysis of Taiwan and Hong Kong, this report will demonstrate how these factors can impact an investing company and will offer guidance as companies determine how the structure, history, and resources of a region will impact their foreign investment decisions. Data surrounding these elements is becoming more widely accessible every day. Utilizing this information will help companies stay competitive and prepared as they expand internationally.