We placed recycling receptacles in two locations in academic buildings and studied recycling behavior within an ABA multiple baseline design. During baseline, recycling receptacles were placed in a central location. During the intervention, receptacles were moved into classrooms where beverages were primarily consumed. Baseline conditions were then reinstated. The percentage of cans recycled daily increased during intervention and returned to near-baseline levels during withdrawal. The percentage of cans discarded daily in the trash decreased during the intervention and increased to near-baseline levels during withdrawal. Implications of this study include making recycling more convenient in institutional settings.DESCRIPTORS: aluminum can recycling, stimulus control, response covariationBehavioral research has identified numerous interventions that increase recycling behaviors. Austin, Hatfield, Grindle, and Bailey (1993) used signs and education to increase paper recycling in two college departments. By placing signs over the trash containers and recycling containers, they increased recyclables from 51% in baseline to 84% in the experimental condition. Williams (1991) reported that less than half of the students in residence halls recycled their daily newspapers. He suggested that a majority of students would recycle if drop-off facilities were convenient for them. Brothers, Krantz, and McClannahan (1994) found that when recycling containers were placed in a central location of an office building, 28% of recyclable paper was recycled. When the containers were moved closer to the workers, recycling increased to 88% of all The authors acknowledge the helpfulness of Denise Martz and Stan Aeschleman for their comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript. Portions of this research were presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Behavior Analysis, Washington, DC, 1995. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Timothy D. Ludwig, Appalachian State University, 114 Smith-Wright Hall, Boone, North Carolina 28608 (E-mail: ludwigtd@appstate.edu).paper, and similar results were maintained for up to 7 months afterward.The present study provided a systematic replication of the study by Brothers et al. (1994) applied to student recycling behaviors in university academic buildings. By making recycling more convenient, it was predicted that patrons of two academic buildings would increase their aluminum can recycling. METHOD Participants and SettingsParticipants in the study included patrons of two academic buildings at a southeastern university over a 6-month period. Building A was a rectangular structure with three floors containing nine classrooms (no classrooms on the first floor, four on the second floor, and five on the third floor). Building B was a three-story building that contained 25 classrooms. To make the two buildings comparable, two perpendicular halls containing 10 classrooms on the second floor of Building B were used in the study. Trash containers were located inside each cl...
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