  Citation: Siddiqua, A.; El Gamal, M.; Kareem Abdul, W.; Mahmoud, L.; Howari, F.M. E-Device Purchase and Disposal Behaviours in the UAE: An Exploratory Study. Sustainability 2022, 14, 4805. https://doi.org/10.3390/ su14084805 Academic Editors: Renato Passaro, Patrizia Ghisellini, Carmela Piccolo, Ivana Quinto and Sven Kevin van Langen Received: 26 February 2022 Accepted: 2 April 2022 Published: 17 April 2022 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). sustainability Article E-Device Purchase and Disposal Behaviours in the UAE: An Exploratory Study Ayisha Siddiqua 1 , Maisa El Gamal 1, * , Waheed Kareem Abdul 2 , Lama Mahmoud 1 and Fares M Howari 1 1 College of Natural and Health Sciences, Zayed University, Abu Dhabi P.O. Box 144534, United Arab Emirates; Ayisha.Siddiqua@zu.ac.ae (A.S.); Lama.Mahmoud@zu.ac.ae (L.M.); Fares.Howari@zu.ac.ae (F.M.H.) 2 Institute of Management Technology, Dubai P.O. Box 345006, United Arab Emirates; waheed@imt.ac.ae * Correspondence: Maisa.Elgamal@zu.ac.ae Abstract: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is one of the high-income countries in the Middle Eastern region and is vying for sustainable development in every sector. One of the UAE sustainable devel- opment goals is to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns; hence, the emphasis is on circular economy. UAE is one of largest consumers of e-devices, and their proper disposal is of paramount importance. E-waste disposal awareness leads to better disposal behaviors. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to understand the e-device purchase and disposal behaviour among university communities in the UAE. A survey was conducted among the students and staff members of a federally funded university in the UAE, namely Zayed University, and quantitative methodology was adopted to analyze the collected data. The study found that 47.95% of respondents purchased mobile phones, and 65% of the respondents purchased 1–3 electronic devices every year. Through chi-square test, gender of the respondents was found to be related with e-device ownership. Through the analysis of variance (ANOVA), age and field of specialization were found to affect the knowledge about e-waste. Older and the respondents with science specialization were more aware about e-waste. Most of the respondents disposed e-devices, such as batteries, earphones/headphones, and electronic toys, along with the household trash. A very small percentage of respondents disposed e-devices such as laptops, phones, and tablets with the household trash. Mostly, these were either repaired, donated, or sold to second-hand users. Many respondents were neither aware of the government initiatives on e-waste collection nor participated in government-sponsored e-waste recycling. The study further identified that 67% of the respondents were aware of the toxicity of e-waste, and 61% of the respondents were keen to join e-waste recycling drives at university. The findings of the study imply that the policy makers need to incentivize e-waste-disposal systems and develop targeted awareness approaches to enhance e-waste disposal in the UAE. Keywords: e-waste awareness; e-device purchase; e-device disposal behaviour; e-waste recycling 1. Introduction E-waste is categorized as electronic and equipment waste, which includes all compo- nents, consumables, and sub-assemblies [1,2]. According to Global E-waste Monitor 2020, the generation of e-waste is increasing every year. In 2019, 53.6 million metric tons (Mt) of e-waste was generated, and the amount is projected to grow to 74.7 Mt by 2030. Many of the world’s economies are dependent on the huge consumption of electronics, and this waste generation is difficult to control with fewer options of repair and recycle [3]. Asia is the largest generator of e-waste with 24.9 Mt; the next is America at 13.1 Mt, Europe at 12 Mt, and Africa, which produces 2.9 Mt. Globally, e-waste represents 5% of the waste generated, but 70% of the toxic waste around the globe is from e-waste [4]. E-waste contains many hazardous materials, and prominent among them are heavy metals (lead, mercury, etc.), brominated flame retardants, polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and polybrominated Sustainability 2022, 14, 4805. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14084805 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability