Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Household curbside recycling behavior was observed in two similar, adjacent cities. In one, all recyclables were mixed together, and in the other, four types of materials were separated. As predicted, the commingled program achieved a higher average weekly participation rate (58% vs. 42%), and more households participated at least once in 8 consecutive weeks (90%o vs. 77%/6). The commingled program also generated more gallons of recyclables (32.1 vs. 5.5 per household per week). In the city with the commingled program, there was a significant level of consistency in the frequency of household recycling participation across a 2-year period (r= .45); overall participation remained over 90%h for that period. High, medium, and low socioeconomic residential areas in both cities displayed some significant differences in participation and quantity recycled. Surprisingly, areas with volunteer recycling block leaders did not have higher levels of participation than comparable areas without block leaders.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Allan, T. , Platt, B. , & Morris, D. (1989). Beyond 25 percent: Materials recovery comes of age. Washington, DC: Institute for Local Self Reliance.

Caplan, R. (1990). Ourearth, ourselves. New York: Bantam.

Cariess, J. (1992). Taking out the trash. Washington, DC: Island.

Chilton, K. , & Lis, J. (1992). Recycling for recycling's sake. St. Louis: Washington University, Center for the Study of American Business.

De Young, R. (1993). Changing behavior and making it stick. Environment and Behavior, 25, 485-505.

Dwyer, W. O. , Leemning, F. C. , Cobem, M. K. , Porter, B. E. , & Jackson, J. M. (1993). Critical review of behavioral interventions to preserve the environment: Research since 1980. Environment and Behavior, 25, 275-321.

Folz, D. H. (1991). Recycling program design, management, and participation: A national survey of municipal experience. Public Administration Review, 51, 222-231.

Folz, D. H. , & Hazlett, J. M. (1991). Public participation and recycling performance: Explaining program success. Public Administration Review, 51, 526-532.

Forester, W. S. (1988). Solid waste: There's a lot more coming. Environmental Protection Agency Journal, 14, 11-12.

10.

Gamba, R. J. , & Oskamp, S. (1994). Factors influencing community residents' participation in commingled curbside recycling. Environment and Behavior, 26, 587-612.

11.

Geller, E. S. (1989). Applled behavior analysis and social marketing: An integration to preserve the environment. Journal of Social Issues, 45(1), 17-36.

12.

Khator, R. (1993). Recycling: A policy dilemma for American states? Policy Studies Journal, 21, 210-226.

13.

Leeming, F. , Dwyer, W. , Porter, B. , & Cobem, M. (1993). Outcome research in environmental education: A critical review. Journal of Environmental Education, 24, 8-21.

14.

Porter, B. , Leeming, F. , & Dwyer, W. (1995). Solid waste recovery: A review of behavioral programs to increase recycling. Environment and Behavior, 27, 122-152.

15.

Ruiz, J. A. (1993). Recycling overview and growth. In H. Lund (Ed.), The McGraw-Hil recycling handbook (pp. 1.1-2.15). New York: McGraw-HUI.

16.

Schuitz, P. W. , Oskamp, S. , & Mainieri, T. (in press). Who recycles and when? A review of personal and situational factors. Journal of Environmental Psychology.

17.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency . (1990). Characterization of municipal solid waste hi the United States: 1990 update (NTIS, PB90-215112). Washington, DC: National Technical Information Service, U.S. Department of Commerce.

18.

van Voorst, B. (1992, September 14). The recycling bottleneck. T7me, pp. 52-56.

Commingled Versus Separated Curbside Recycling

Abstract

Get full access to this article

References