What factors drive or hinder drugstores and residents from jointly recycling expired drugs? An evolutionary game analysis

Background: Expired drugs are widely present in various countries and regions around the world and have serious adverse effects on land, the natural environment, public health, and economic development. Therefore, it is important to explore how drugstores can collaborate with residents to recycle these drugs. However, there is currently a lack of systematic research in this field. Methods: To fill this research gap, this article applies evolutionary game theory to establish a theoretical model. Results: The cooperative evolution trend and stable strategies between the two parties are analyzed, and the driving and hindering factors are also explored. Numerical simulation and sensitivity analysis indicate that socioeconomic performance and moderate reward outputs are key driving factors influencing joint recycling behavior between drugstores and residents. In contrast, recycling costs, time loss, promotional costs, large rewards, and small rewards are hindering factors. This article also identifies the value ranges for these factors. Conclusion: The proposed model and results have theoretical significance for drugstore recycling strategies and resident participation, and they provide a reference for ecological environment protection and the development of the drug recycling market.