earch, there is no obvious influential factor.
With household batteries and fluorescent lamps, based on
estimated waste generation data or general sales data at the state
and/or national level compared to collection data, many are not
being returned to the place of purchase. Instead, as demonstrated
by the regression analysis, customers prefer to drop off batteries
and fluorescent lamps when collection containers are more
convenient and prefer hardware stores. With regards to the convenience
of the collection containers, our findings are in agreement
with Huisman et al. (2006) who noted that to maximize collection,
retailers need to increase customer service that includes more
easily accessible collection locations. Hardware stores are located
near the highest number of households (78,301 within 8.05 km and
70,550 within 4.8 km) compared to other store types; proximity is
an established factor of convenience. In addition, we found that
customers dropping off batteries also drop of significant quantities
at private collection facilities, which are not retail stores. Private
collection facilities are designed primarily to collect and refund
deposits on beverage containers. Although they are not retail establishments,
they voluntarily participate in battery collection as a
customer service; they also accept a variety of other recyclables.
Consequently, these highly convenient drive-up type facilities
enable customers to drop-off multiple types of waste while also
receiving an economic incentive for some of the waste in the form
of a deposit refund