A global perspective for improving recovery and recycling programs: text analysis approaches

The main purpose of this study was to provide a unified framework of key stakeholder action-oriented approaches to extended producer responsibility based on behavioral estimates of consumers. For Twitter data, descriptive analysis and content analysis (thematic modeling) were performed after reviewing the literature. In addition, a new text analysis framework was employed to analyze extended producer responsibility reports. A total of 2,561,216 tweets and 708 documents related to producer responsibilities were analyzed. According to descriptive analysis, tweets related to North American countries represent about 35 percent of Twitter activity, while tweets related to African countries represent about 5 percent. A further consideration is the amount of attention paid by policymakers to issues related to mobile phones and environmental concerns among young people (about 5% in the 10–20 age group and 15% in the 20–30 age group). Consumer participation is significantly influenced by social factors such as education, awareness, and trust. In addition, consumers are increasingly concerned about data security and privacy. Also, cost, economic benefits, proximity, and convenience influenced consumer participation. The second part of the analysis revealed that producers are attending to enhance the economic benefits of recovery, develop infrastructure (for consumer convenience), ensure data security and privacy for participants, and increase knowledge and awareness about recycling and recovery. The developed countries also work with producers to increase engagement, while developing countries are trying to overcome information transparency, a lack of economic potential, and public awareness.