Recycling End-of-Use Medicines for sustainability: an empirical investigation of return intention

Recycling End-of-Use Medicines (REOUM) for reuse, which integrates circular economy principles, is a promising approach to reducing medicine wastage and improving access to medicines. This study presents an integrated theoretical model grounded in prominent theories, such as the Theory of Planned Behavior, Norm Activation Model, Value-Belief-Norm theory, and protection motivation theory, to explore the behavioral factors influencing End-of-Use Medicine (EOU-M) return intentions. The study investigates how antecedents like awareness of consequences, ascription of responsibility, social norms, and altruistic values affect EOU-M return intentions. In addition, the study examines the mediating effects of personal norms and attitudes, as well as the moderating effects of self-efficacy beliefs, response efficacy beliefs, and response cost. Perceptions concerning the behavioral intention to return EOU-M are recorded from urban residents (n = 238) using a structured questionnaire. A partial least square-structural equation modeling was used to analyze the variables’ linkages. Awareness of consequences and altruistic values were the most contributing antecedents of EOU-M return intention. Personal norms and attitudes were found to significantly mediate the effect of the antecedents on return intention. The findings suggest that policies enhancing awareness and promoting altruistic values can significantly boost REOUM efforts, contributing to sustainable medicine consumption practices.