Jakarta’s E-Waste Future Hinges on Data Privacy, Not Full Brand Control, Study Finds

Jakarta generates an estimated 7.7 million kilograms of electronic waste every year, yet in 2021 the city’s formal collection systems captured barely 33,289 kilograms of it. The rest flows through a vast informal network of collectors, repair workers, and small-scale recyclers who buy, dismantle, and resell obsolete electronics. A new study published in Cleaner Engineering and Technology argues that closing this gap will depend less on regulation and more on a surprisingly personal factor: whether consumers trust that their data will be safe when they hand over an old laptop.

Researchers led by I Wayan Koko Suryawan of Universitas Pertamina surveyed 640 residents of Jakarta, a megacity of more than ten million people whose rapid digital transformation has accelerated the replacement of laptops, personal computers, and smartphones. The team included end-users, electronics retailers, and representatives of recycling organizations, and supplemented the survey with semi-structured interviews involving government bodies, non-governmental organizations, and private companies. Their goal was to map how consumers weigh cost, convenience, environmental benefit, and data protection when deciding whether to participate in formal e-waste programs.

The study’s central concept is resilience: the capacity of consumers, manufacturers, and institutions to keep collection and recycling systems functioning as technology and policy conditions shift. The authors break consumer engagement into four behavioral attributes. Planning describes whether people organize device disposal on a schedule, ideally guided by brand recommendations. Interest captures motivation to join recycling and data-protection programs. Learning reflects the ability to absorb new disposal practices through education. Coping measures access to practical services, such as manufacturer-supported data erasure, that remove barriers to handing in a device.

To quantify these preferences, the team ran a choice experiment. An initial pool of 540 possible policy profiles, built from five attributes at multiple levels, was reduced to 25 statistically efficient scenarios using an orthogonal design, then grouped into choice sets of two alternatives plus a status quo option. Respondents were asked to pick their preferred program in each set, with payment levels ranging from zero to 50,000 Indonesian rupiah per item. The design was validated by a panel of eight experts, including an NGO officer, a scientist, two educators, and four government officials, and piloted with 50 participants in November 2023 before the main survey ran from December 2023 to March 2024.

The results, analyzed with Random Parameter Logit and Latent Class models, reveal a striking pattern: consumers want help, but not a takeover. Moderate brand guidance for scheduled disposal and secure data destruction carried a positive and statistically significant coefficient, with a marginal willingness to pay of roughly 17,799 rupiah per item. Fully brand-managed disposal, by contrast, was significantly negative. The same asymmetry appeared for education and coping. Gradual, brand-supported learning was the single most valued attribute at 37,835 rupiah per item, while intensive continuous education programs were rejected. Initial use of manufacturer data-handling services drew 26,057 rupiah, but comprehensive service packages were again viewed unfavorably.

The authors interpret this as a preference for incremental assistance that preserves consumer autonomy. Respondents appear to perceive fully centralized programs as complex, costly, or restrictive, and extensive interventions as burdensome relative to their actual needs. Price sensitivity also varied by group: the interaction analysis found that higher-income respondents earning more than 7.5 million rupiah per month, those with bachelor’s degrees, people who replace laptops in under two years, and those older than 39 were more responsive to program costs than the general sample.

The Latent Class Model sorted respondents into two segments. Class 1, about 80 percent of the sample, showed stable and consistent preferences favoring brand-guided disposal, participation in data-protection exchange programs, and sustainable purchasing habits. Its members tend to have higher incomes, higher education, and more frequent device replacement, and are generally younger than 39. Class 2, roughly 20 percent, produced statistically unstable estimates with standard errors far exceeding the coefficients, so the authors caution against reading precise preferences from it, though its existence signals a minority with divergent views on brand involvement.

From these results the team constructed three hypothetical engagement scenarios representing increasing levels of decoupling, the separation of economic activity from environmental harm. In the basic scenario, consumers follow brand-guided disposal routines and join data-protection exchanges, yielding an average willingness to pay of 2,751 rupiah per item. The intermediate scenario adds brand-led education at purchase and initial use of manufacturer data services, raising the figure to 6,177 rupiah. The advanced resilience scenario, combining planned disposal, active data-security participation, sustainable purchasing, and full use of brand-supported services, reaches 8,928 rupiah per item. The progression suggests consumers recognize and will pay for increasingly comprehensive systems.

The implications reach beyond Jakarta’s borders. Data security is a well-documented barrier to formal recycling worldwide, particularly for laptops and personal computers holding sensitive information, and the study indicates that reliable deletion services and transparent privacy protocols can convert hesitant owners into participants. For recyclers, more structured brand-supported collection would deliver predictable, higher-quality material flows and reduce the unsafe dismantling practices common in informal operations. Crucially, the authors stress that formal programs are meant to complement, not replace, Jakarta’s informal network, with buy-back schemes and partnerships that preserve the economic role of informal workers while improving traceability and treatment standards.

The authors also urge caution in generalizing. Jakarta’s density, logistics infrastructure, and high device consumption differ sharply from smaller Indonesian cities and rural regions, where informal collection dominates and formal services are sparse; brand-supported initiatives there would need adaptation through local partnerships and community-based awareness campaigns. Looking forward, they point to digital technologies such as the Internet of Things and distributed ledgers for tracking devices, and to policy instruments like tax benefits and subsidies, noting that evidence from the European Union shows stricter e-waste regulation can substantially lift recycling participation. As consumer attitudes and technology cycles continue to evolve, the study concludes, adaptive monitoring and sustained brand engagement will be essential to keeping e-waste systems resilient.

Subject of Research: Consumer willingness to pay for resilient, data-secure e-waste management in Jakarta

Article Title: Future directions and consumer engagement scenarios for data resilience in e-waste management in Jakarta

Article References: Suryawan, I. W. K., Sari, M. M., Rahman, A., Suhardono, S., & Lee, C.-H. (2026). Future directions and consumer engagement scenarios for data resilience in e-waste management in Jakarta. Cleaner Engineering and Technology, 34, Article 101288. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clet.2026.101288

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: Not provided

Keywords: e-waste, Jakarta, consumer behavior, data privacy, recycling, choice experiment, willingness to pay, resilience, informal sector, decoupling, brand engagement, Indonesia