Collaborative strategies for enhancing pro-environmental behavior in renovation waste management: An evolutionary game approach to achieving a circular economy

The growing volume of renovation waste presents major environmental and societal challenges, pressing governments and contractors to find effective solutions. Encouraging pro-environmental behavior (PEB) among renovation workers is essential for reducing waste at its source. However, the lack of coordinated and stable strategies among key stakeholders, workers, contractors, and local governments impeded effective PEB implementation on renovation sites. This study utilizes an evolutionary game model to investigate these stakeholders' dynamic decision-making processes and develop collaborative strategies for enhancing PEB. Initially, a payoff matrix was constructed for the three stakeholders. Each stakeholder's equilibrium and stability strategies were analyzed, and simulations assessed the impact of initial strategy choices and parameter variations on decision-making. The findings indicate that (1) Government incentives and penalties are effective in motivating contractors and workers to adopt PEB; (2) The government's influence on workers' PEB is indirect, whereas contractors exert a more direct influence; and (3) Optimal strategies vary with the industrial development stage: early-stage strategies are less effective, while mature-stage strategies see increased engagement in PEB by workers and contractors, with the government adopting more relaxed regulatory approaches. These insights suggest targeted measures to achieve PEB in renovation waste through multi-party collaboration to realize a circular economy.