Promoting Recycling Behavior in Office Environments

Abstract

Rapid declines in available landfill space have sparked specific interest in recycling programs focused on increasing the quantity of materials recycled. This focus on quantity, rather than quality, has produced a glut of paper which currently comprises nearly 40% of all solid waste produced each year in the U.S. In recent years, recycling facilities have become increasingly selective with regard to the paper materials they accept because contaminants (e.g., food, gummy labels, carbon paper, staples, styrofoam products) reduce the recyclability of the collected material. In this study, a “low-tech” sort separation intervention was used to decrease the amount of contaminants in recyclable paper collected from four campus office buildings. A multiple baseline design across settings was used to evaluate the intervention, that consisted of an educational pamphlet, interactive group discussion, attention-getting posters, and environmental arrangement of color-coded paper collection bins to increase ease of use and convenience. Following the intervention, the percentage of correctly sorted paper increased from 25.5% during baseline to 83.5%. The results show that “low-tech” interventions can be used successfully to improve paper recycling practices in office settings. Implications of these results are discussed.