Solar battery recycling in rural electrication

This paper introduces an incentive incompatibility problem that causes dramatic damage to delicate ecosystems. The aim is to rethink policies that facilitate the introduction of aggressive solid waste in markets with an imperfect infrastructure and in the absence of a secondary market for the solid waste. We sketch a case study in Nepal, where rural electrication through solar systems leads to the dumping of used batteries. We label the puzzle 'the porter problem', referring to the porters who are the most popular transportation medium in the Himalayas.

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