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How effective are current household recycling policies? Results from a national survey of U.S. households

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  • Saphores, Jean-Daniel M.
  • Nixon, Hilary

Abstract

This paper analyzes a unique dataset collected during a 2006 national survey of U.S. households to explore the effectiveness of common household recycling policies for metals, glass, and plastics: curbside recycling, drop-off recycling, deposit–refund systems (bottle bills), and marginal pricing for household waste. After estimating either generalized ordered logit or multinomial logit models, we find that the most important determinants of household recycling are people's attitudes toward recycling. Our results also suggest that omitting internal variables (perceived recycling obstacles and benefits as well as moral considerations) may bias policy coefficients. Socio-economic variables are typically not statistically significant, with the exceptions of young adults and of African Americans who tend to recycle less than others. Policies with the largest odds ratios are curbside recycling (which is further strengthened if recycling is mandatory), followed by the presence of drop-off collection centers nearby. Bottle bills are also statistically significant but their odds ratios are smaller, possibly because refunds are relatively small and typically do not change for years. Finally, marginal pricing appears to have a limited impact on recycling. These results suggest avenues for improving household recycling at a time when recycling rates appear to be plateauing.

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  • Saphores, Jean-Daniel M. & Nixon, Hilary, 2014. "How effective are current household recycling policies? Results from a national survey of U.S. households," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 1-10.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:recore:v:92:y:2014:i:c:p:1-10
    DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2014.08.010
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    3. Fielding, Kelly S. & van Kasteren, Yasmin & Louis, Winnifred & McKenna, Bernard & Russell, Sally & Spinks, Anneliese, 2016. "Using individual householder survey responses to predict household environmental outcomes: The cases of recycling and water conservation," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 90-97.
    4. Tobias D. Nielsen & Jacob Hasselbalch & Karl Holmberg & Johannes Stripple, 2020. "Politics and the plastic crisis: A review throughout the plastic life cycle," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(1), January.
    5. Willman, Kenneth W., 2015. "Information sharing and curbside recycling: A pilot study to evaluate the value of door-to-door distribution of informational literature," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 104(PA), pages 162-171.
    6. Campbell, Benjamin & Khachatryan, Hayk & Behe, Bridget & Hall, Charles & Dennis, Jennifer, 2016. "Crunch the can or throw the bottle? Effect of “bottle deposit laws” and municipal recycling programs," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 98-109.
    7. Klaiman, Kimberly & Ortega, David L. & Garnache, Cloé, 2016. "Consumer preferences and demand for packaging material and recyclability," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 1-8.
    8. Martinho, Graça & Pires, Ana & Portela, Gonçalo & Fonseca, Miguel, 2015. "Factors affecting consumers’ choices concerning sustainable packaging during product purchase and recycling," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 58-68.
    9. Xiang Gao & Sandy Dall'erba & Brenna Ellison & Andre F. T. Avelino & Cuihong Yang, 2022. "When one cannot bypass the byproducts: Plastic packaging waste embedded in production and export," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 26(4), pages 1460-1474, August.
    10. Wenchun Ran & Ling Zhang, 2023. "Bridging the intention-behavior gap in mobile phone recycling in China: the effect of consumers’ price sensitivity and proactive personality," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 938-959, January.
    11. Pollans, Lily Baum & Krones, Jonathan S. & Ben-Joseph, Eran, 2017. "Patterns in municipal food scrap programming in mid-sized U.S. cities," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 308-314.
    12. Yihan Zhao & Rong Chen & Mitsuyasu Yabe & Buxin Han & Pingping Liu, 2021. "I Am Better Than Others: Waste Management Policies and Self-Enhancement Bias," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-19, November.
    13. Bilal Boubellouta & Sigrid Kusch-Brandt, 2023. "Driving factors of e-waste recycling rate in 30 European countries: new evidence using a panel quantile regression of the EKC hypothesis coupled with the STIRPAT model," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(8), pages 7533-7560, August.
    14. López-Mosquera, Natalia & Lera-López, Fernando & Sánchez, Mercedes, 2015. "Key factors to explain recycling, car use and environmentally responsible purchase behaviors: A comparative perspective," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 29-39.
    15. Moh, YiingChiee & -->Abd Manaf, Latifah, 2017. "Solid waste management transformation and future challenges of source separation and recycling practice in Malaysia," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 1-14.
    16. De Silva, Lihini & Taylor, Rebecca, 2021. "If you build it, they will compost: The effects of municipal composting services on household waste generation," 2021 Annual Meeting, August 1-3, Austin, Texas 313874, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

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