The Impact of a Change in Collection Frequency on Kerbside Recycling Behaviours

The research monitors the changes in recycling performance indicators arising from halving the collection frequency of a kerbside newspaper collection scheme. The changes in the performance parameters are explained in terms of the underlying behavioural changes that could have occurred within the community. This interpretation is aided by a computer simulation of the kerbside recycling activity of the community. Moving from a 2-week collection to a 4-week collection did not substantially affect the number of households recycling, nor the overall weights collected. A small weight loss, however, may have occurred, from a small minority of households, unable to accommodate the extra storage demand of the new regime. Model predictions were consistent with the observed performance data. It is postulated that the scheme could withstand considerable intervention before significant behavioural changes are induced. It demonstrates that cost-cutting interventions can be undertaken without significantly compromising individual participations. The case-study also highlights the caution needed in the interpretation of the recycling performance indicators themselves.     

General vs. domain specific recycling behaviour—Applying a multilevel comprehensive action determination model to recycling in Norwegian student homes

This paper reports the results of a multilevel structure equation model predicting general and fraction specific self-reported recycling behaviour. The model was tested on a sample of 697 undergraduate students from four Norwegian universities who each reported their degree of participation in the local recycling schemes for paper/cardboard, glass, metal, and plastic. It was demonstrated that variance in recycling behaviour can be divided into a smaller general part that is relatively stable across waste fractions and a specific part that depends on the respective fraction. General recycling behaviour is well predicted by intentions to recycle and recycling habits, whereas perceived behavioural control is to a large extend fraction specific and influences the fraction specific recycling. Perceived behavioural control mediates the influence of the recycling scheme type, distance to recycling containers, and transport mode used to reach the recycling containers.     

On the relationship between set-out rates and participation ratios as a tool for enhancement of kerbside household waste recycling

Although the use of kerbside recycling facilities by householders is often key to the reduction of materials disposed of to landfill, the quantitative assessment of householders' recycling behaviour is problematic. This study introduces a method to diagnose recycling behaviour by assessing kerbside scheme use in terms of the set-out of recyclate containers compared to the proportion of households participating in recycling (participation ratio). Application of numerical behaviour models demonstrated that kerbside recycling in sampled regions of the UK tends to be consistent with householders using kerbside schemes more frequently than would be observed with random patterns of use that are uniform amongst all householders. When aggregated to collection rounds, householders' modal recycling behaviour tended towards either non-participation or frequent participation. We propose that initiatives to enhance kerbside recycling should employ such quantitative assessments of recycling behavioural modes to inform and guide promotional and educational strategies. A conceptual model for prioritizing campaigns to promote recycling at the kerbside on the basis of identifiable and quantifiable patterns of householder recycling behaviour is presented.     

A normative strategy for sustainable resource choice and recycling

A normative strategy is proposed for resource choice and recycling to meet the criterion of sustainability, defined as near constancy of natural resources. In this strategy resource choice should be fitted to the fate of products and product wastes, with geochemically scarce virtually non-renewable resources being reserved for uses that allow for nearly 100% recycling and negligible loss of irretrievable material and material deterioration. Sustainable recycling is argued to be strongly dependent on product design that slows loss of quality by products and materials. Recycling processes should aim at quality conservation by cascading. Non-product and recycling outputs should match with required inputs into the economy. Finally technologies should be employed that prevent the build-up of contaminants in products. Examples are given of the ways in which elements of this normative strategy may be implemented. Internalisation of currently external costs will strongly favour the proposed strategy.     

Household behaviour and attitudes with respect to recycling food waste--experiences from focus groups

It is a challenge to reduce the ever-increasing flow of waste. In Norway the systems for recycling of organic waste, paper, glass, metals, etc. differ between municipalities, both with regard to organizational and to technological structures. Our hypothesis is that people's attitudes and behaviour may differ with different systems of waste management. People's behaviour and attitudes regarding (organic) waste recycling were investigated in two municipalities with differing technical and organisational systems. Data came from interviews with municipal employees, questionnaires, focus groups and multi-criteria mapping. People seem to be better informed and more positive about organic waste recycling in one of the municipalities (MH, which has recycling of organic waste) than in the other (MS, which has no such recycling). The two municipalities had similar sets of important criteria for waste management (price, environmental friendliness, easy solutions, information). Many participants stated that they had learned from the group process, though only a few reported changed preferences. The institutional context seems to be important for people's behaviour and attitudes towards waste management. This implies that people's recycling behaviour does not only depend on technical and organisational aspects, but also on institutions. These are important messages for policy makers. On an individual basis, the different systems in the two municipalities seem to affect people's stated attitudes. These differences diminish when they are in a common setting where process and dialogue stimulate new thoughts and encourage people to act more altruistically.     

A comprehensive action determination model: Toward a broader understanding of ecological behaviour using the example of travel mode choice

This paper examines a first version of a Comprehensive Action Determination Model (CADM) of ecological behaviour that incorporates intentional, normative, situational, and habitual influences on environmentally friendly behaviour. The main assumptions of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), the norm-activation model (NAM), the theoretical concept of habit and the ipsative theory of behaviour were integrated into a comprehensive model. The model was tested using a structural equation modelling approach on a sample of 389 students in the domain of travel mode choice and compared to established less comprehensive models (TPB, NAM and a combination of both). The results show that all compared models had a good to excellent model fit and explained a substantial amount of variation in travel mode choice. The CADM, however, explained the greatest degree of variation as compared with the other models, at 65%. Subjective and objective situational constraints were responsible for most of the variation in travel mode choice in the CADM, but intentions and habits also had a significant impact. The influence of social and personal norms was mediated by habits and intention, while habits moderated the relationship between intention and behaviour. The importance of the CADM as a framework for other domains of ecological behaviour is also discussed.     

Environmentally Friendly Disposal Behaviour and Local Support Systems: lessons from a metropolitan area

The amount of household refuse has steadily increased in Sweden. Strategies for household waste reduction include sorting, recycling, re-use and repair. Two categories of motivational factors determine disposal behaviour, external and internal. The external factors include administrative, economic, information and physical measures. The internal factors include knowledge, values and attitudes of individuals. Environmentally friendly disposal behaviour is best achieved when both external and internal motivational factors argue for performing activities benign to the environment. The data were collected by interviewing households and stakeholders in a metropolitan area and by studying the facilities for recycling and re-use there. The results show that over 80% of the inhabitants sorted most paper and glass; they were satisfied with the facilities and considered the behaviour important for the environment. The external motivational factors for this behaviour were very strong, with numerous bins and ample information. National policy, formulated in the eco-cycle bill with specified achievement levels, local responsibilities for organising waste management, supporting citizens with physical facilities, information and moti vational arguments, seems to be a successful combination when implementing environmental policy in this sector.     

Demonstrating the need for the development of internal research capacity: Understanding recycling participation using the Theory of Planned Behaviour in West Oxfordshire,UK

Many UK local authorities, looking to meet their regulatory recycling targets, have opted for voluntary kerbside collection schemes for source segregated recyclables from households. The success of a recycling service is highly dependant on the number of people who participate in the service and the frequency of its use. High participation rates are therefore an essential component of any effective kerbside collection scheme. It is commonly accepted that recycling behaviour is strongly influenced and motivated by personal opinions as well as external issues such as access and convenience. This paper characterises the recycling attitudes within West Oxfordshire, UK, and compares them with the results from a previous study conducted during 2003 in Brixworth, in Daventry, UK. From 1st April 2004, West Oxfordshire District Council, expanded its kerbside collection scheme for dry recyclables, adding cardboard, batteries, aerosols and mixed plastics to the already collected recyclables (paper, glass, textiles and metals) and increasing the frequency from fortnightly to weekly In this study, the recycling attitudes and behaviour of a cross-sectional socio-economic sample from households from West Oxfordshire, is investigated. It is observed that the propensity to recycle varies between individuals and socio-economic areas, and that recycling is influenced by concern for future generations, the need to bury less waste in landfills, and the fact that recycling saves resources and protects the environment. The results from this study can be used to help inform local authorities who are considering the development of their recycling schemes and associated promotional campaigns based on an understanding of their socio-demographic profile.     

Encouraging ‘Environmental Action’ by Exhortation: Evidence from a Study in Devon

National and local campaigns to encourage ‘Environmental Action’ use a range of media to increase the levels of activities such as recycling, energy saving and water conservation. These are conventionally focused on the population as a whole. The research reported in this paper suggests that such an approach, based on a belief that general campaigns are effective, might not be very effective and could be modified to take account of how different groups of people behave. In addition, the focus of campaigns on sectoral activities like water and energy saving might also be inappropriate given our findings, which are based on a survey of 1265 households in Devon. This found that three major types of behaviour characterise ‘Environmental Action’: purchasing, habitual activities and recycling behaviour. In addition, demographically and attitudinally defined clusters of individuals point to very different types of behaviour across the population. These findings suggest that more focused campaigns and a re-evaluation of how ‘Environmental Action’ is segmented would greatly assist policy makers in developing effective strategies for enhancing ‘Environmental Action’.     

Conservation of building materials and the future of the built environment

Building uses a combination of materials resources ranging from clay to bronze. Some of these resources are widely available, but require substantial energy resources to process and distribute them as the volumes used are so great. Other resources, like copper, are in much smaller supply. The resources used in building need to be examined against the future resource limitations in their supply and the possibilities of recycling. The links between building and waste cycles will also be critical, as wastes from other processes can often be incorporated into the building process. Design for recycling has to be balanced against the advantages of design for longer life. Reversible cementitious processes could confer enormous advantages if the reversibility was safely controllable, but this represents a very formidable scientific problem. The advantages of composite materials need to be balanced against the difficulties of effective recycling, for example reinforced concrete. The building as an energy conservation device also needs more emphasis. The final section deals with the concept of the materials conservation city in a Utopian way. It is designed to stimulate constructive thinking about resource conservation and materials recycling.     

Understanding land cover change in a Special Protection Area in Central Spain through the enhanced land cover transition matrix and a related new approach

This work analyses land cover changes occurring between 1990 and 2000 within a Natural Protected Area, southwest of Madrid (Spain). We develop a new methodology that considers the net change in different land cover categories in each municipality of the study area. Our methodology, which uses Factorial Correspondence Analysis, allows identification of the most important changes at the municipality level and groups the municipalities where land use dynamics are similar. This method is a powerful tool for synthesis and can potentially be applied to non-spatial geographical data sources (e.g. agrarian census statistics). Our results show that the land cover around SW Madrid is highly dynamic. The shrub vegetation, arable land, heterogeneous agricultural and human-created area categories show the highest total change. The dynamics of the changes detected are dominated by decreases in the area of different types of crops and increases in forest areas. These changes may have indirect effects on the conservation of natural resources and wildlife if not managed appropriately.     

The role of perceived effectiveness of policy measures in predicting recycling behaviour in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is a compact and ‘land-hungry’ city where recycling has become an important measure for treating waste and reducing the demand on the limited landfills. The objectives of this paper are to extend the model of recycling attitude and behaviour to explain the relationship between perceived policy effectiveness and recycling behaviour. Previous studies on recycling attitude and behaviour had widely adopted the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and the norm activation model (NAM), and drawn policy implications from them. Nevertheless, little research has been conducted to investigate the role of perceived effectiveness of policy measures in predicting recycling behaviour. To address this, a model that integrates the TPB and NAM was proposed in this study, and a street survey was conducted to investigate the case. The results illustrate that recycling intention is influenced by subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, moral norms, and awareness of consequences, as well as a newly proposed construct, namely perceived policy effectiveness. The study proved self-reported recycling behaviour (direct behaviour) and support for policy measures (indirect behaviour) are influenced by recycling intention. All in all the Government should provide more recycling bins, guidelines on recycling activities, and should accent what it has been doing to facilitate and encourage recycling.     

Impediments to refractory recycling decision-making

This paper focuses on organizational impediments to the successful implementation of industrial recycling programs. Even if a technologically viable and mutually beneficial solution were to exist, there are a number of organizational impediments that make it unlikely to succeed unless the benefits are very large and apparent. These impediments stem from the difficulty in identifying potential partners and involving the appropriate individuals within the firms that understand the technical requirements, value the strategic benefits and are receptive towards establishing the industrial recycling relationship. This dilemma applies to many industrial recycling opportunities, but solutions do exist. One way to avoid some of these obstacles is to use a middleman, or broker, who can play several crucial roles to establish the relationship. This paper describes the impediments and key broker roles, and provides a case study dealing with refractory recycling. It provides a case study that documents a recycling relationship between an aluminum-manufacturing firm that produces a large volume of spent refractories and a regional portland cement producer that is using the spent refractories as an alternative raw material source. This paper also provides a thorough literature search in the area of refractory recycling. Finally, the case study provides an opportunity for analysis and reflection on the implications of these findings to industrial firms, industrial societies and governmental agencies that seek to encourage successful recycling operations.     

Recognising interdependence and defining multi-level governance in city sustainability plans

Abstract

This paper examines the nature of the relationship between sustainable waste management behaviour between the ‘home’ and ‘work’ settings. A questionnaire survey of 566 employees of the Cornwall NHS (National Health Service) was used to examine the nature of the behaviour between the two settings and to understand the main factors influencing the behaviour. The results indicate that there is strong link in the behaviour of individuals between the two settings, with employees who practised recycling activities at home also being more likely to practise a similar behaviour at work. There was also some similarity in the level of sustainability of the behaviour between the two settings. These behaviours were strongly influenced by the underlying attitudes and beliefs of the staff towards the environment. The implications for policy-making to improve sustainable waste management behaviour amongst individuals in England and Wales are also discussed.     

Cultural Influence on Crowding Norms in Outdoor Recreation: A Comparative Analysis of Visitors to National Parks in Turkey and the United States

Formulation of standards of quality in parks and outdoor recreation can be guided by normative theory and related empirical methods. We apply this approach to measure the acceptability of a range of use levels in national parks in Turkey and the United States. Using statistical methods for comparing norm curves across contexts, we find significant differences among Americans, British, and Turkish respondents. In particular, American and British respondents were substantially less tolerant of seeing other visitors and demonstrated higher norm intensity than Turkish respondents. We discuss the role of culture in explaining these findings, paying particular attention to Turkey as a traditional “contact culture” and the conventional emphasis on solitude and escape in American environmental history and policy. We conclude with a number of recommendations to stimulate more research on the relationship between culture and outdoor recreation.     

Mobilizing citizen effort to enhance environmental outcomes: A randomized controlled trial of a door-to-door recycling campaign

This paper uses a randomized controlled trial to test whether doorstep canvassing can raise participation in kerbside recycling. Existing research shows that canvassing can confront negative attitudes, increase understanding and resolve structural obstacles, but there is less known about the longitudinal effects of such interventions, which may fall away over time. 194 streets in Trafford, in the North West of England, UK were randomly assigned into a treatment and a control group. All households in the treatment group were visited by canvassers who were trained to promote and encourage recycling. Recycling participation rates for all households were measured by observing bin set out rates over a three-week period. Measurement was done before and after the canvassing campaign and then again three months later to see if the intervention had been effective in raising participation rates. Random-effects multilevel regression models, controlling for baseline recycling, street size, deprivation and size of ethnic minority population, show that the canvassing raised recycling participation rates for the treatment group compared to the control group, but there was a decline in the impact of the intervention over time. The intervention was more effective on streets with low levels of recycling at baseline.     

An energetic life cycle assessment of C&D waste and container glass recycling in Cape Town,South Africa

This study presents the results of a comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) on the energy requirements and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission implications of recycling construction and demolition (C&D) rubble and container glass in Cape Town, South Africa. Cape Town is a medium sized city in a developing country with a growing population and a rising middle class, two factors that are resulting in increased generation of solid waste. The City is constrained in terms of landfill space and competing demands for municipal resources.The LCA assessment was based on locally gathered data, supplemented with ecoinvent life cycle inventory data modified to the local context. The results indicated that recycling container glass instead of landfilling can achieve an energy savings of 27% and a GHG emissions savings of 37%, with a net savings still being achieved even if collection practices are varied. The C&D waste results, however, showed net savings only for certain recycling strategies. Recycling C&D waste can avoid up to 90% of the energy and GHG emissions of landfilling when processed and reused onsite but, due to great dependence on haulage distances, a net reduction of energy use and GHG emissions could not be confidently discerned for offsite recycling. It was also found that recycling glass achieves significantly greater savings of energy and emissions than recycling an equivalent mass of C&D waste.The study demonstrated that LCA provides an important tool to inform decisions on supporting recycling activities where resources are limited. It also confirmed other researchers’ observations that strict adherence to the waste management hierarchy will not always result in the best environmental outcome, and that more nuanced analysis is required. The study found that the desirability of recycling from an energy and climate perspective cannot be predicted on the basis of whether such recycling conserves a non-renewable material. However, recycling that replaces a virgin product from an energy-intensive production process appears to be more robustly beneficial than recycling that replaces a product with little embodied energy. Particular caution is needed when applying the waste management hierarchy to the latter situations.     

Ramifications of solid waste disposal site relocation in urban areas of developing countries: a case study in Tanzania

Sanitary landfilling is considered to be the most appropriate means of final disposal of solid wastes. Currently in Tanzania, the cheapest method of developing a landfill is by making use of natural depressions or former borrow pits and mine pits. This paper examines the impacts associated with the relocation of a waste disposal site from a crude disposal site at Vingunguti to a new landfill site at New MECCO quarry in Kunduchi area, both in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The paper focuses on the fate of scavenging and solid waste recycling which are currently taking place at Vingunguti site and mining as well as food vending activities at the proposed new landfill site. Scavenging and waste recycling were found to be important sources of income for some individuals in the city. Various items collected for recycling were found to be an important source of raw materials for some industries in Dar es Salaam. A total of 94% of all the miners were entirely dependent on stone mining and crushing as a sole means of income generation, and 68% of the miners had practised this activity for between 1 and 9 years. Finally the paper recommends that, selection of a waste disposal site should favour abandoned mines or borrow pits rather than operational ones. It also recommends that, waste recycling and scavenging be accommodated in other stages of the waste stream since they can not be practised at a sanitary landfill.     

Understanding consumer behaviour and adaptation planning responses to climate-driven environmental change in Canada's parks and protected areas: a climate futurescapes approach

Parks and protected areas are a global ecological, social and health resource visited by over 8 billion people annually. Their use can yield substantial benefits, but only if a balance between ecological integrity and sustainable visitation is struck. This research explores the potential influence of climate-driven environmental change on visitation to North America's most popular glacier, the Athabasca Glacier in Jasper National Park, Canada. Photorealistic environmental visualizations were used to gauge visitors’ perceptions of environmental change and potential impacts on consumer behaviour. Results suggest that impacts could substantially diminish the site's pull as a tourism destination. Rather than improving visitation prospects, expert-proposed adaptations underestimated the importance of perceived naturalness and contributed to further potential decline. Findings are relevant to protected areas planning and management. They suggest that a natural path to climate change adaptation is the best way to support both ecological integrity and the long-term tourism pull of protected areas.