Income Perspective on the Factors Influencing Households’ Recycling Intention: Implications From the Extended Theory of Planned Behaviour

Abstract

Although few studies have attempted to explain residents’ waste handling behaviour from social and psychological perspective, yet, there is little understanding regarding the influence of households’ moral obligation, consequences awareness, and perceived lack of facilitating conditions on forming recycling intention. This study aims at investigating the key determinants of household recycling intention using the extended theory of planned behaviour (TPB). Data collected from 422 households in Kano metropolis were analysed using structural equation modelling to determine the influence of each predictor on the recycling intention. The results indicate that attitude, subjective norms, personal norm, consequences awareness and perceived lack of facilitating conditions significantly predict recycling intention, with attitude being the most significant predictor of households’ intention. Additional analysis on the effect of households’ income level on their recycling intention shows that income level moderates the relationships between attitude and recycling intention, personal norms—recycling intention, and perceived lack of facilitating conditions— recycling intention. The findings provide valuable suggestions for recycling policies that can focus on households’ intention formation by providing recycling facilities, encouraging participation through market-driven recycling programs, and promoting recycling awareness and education.

Understanding the Effect of Internal and External Factors on Households’ Willingness to Sort Waste in Dammam City, Saudi Arabia

“…The result revealed that attitude has the highest significant and positive correlation with the willingness to sort and recycle waste (r = 0.731, p < 0.01). This result corroborates previous research that revealed that residents that have a positive attitude towards waste segregation and recycling are more likely to participate in the practice [2]. This is also consistent with some theoretical expectations [30,74] and the previous literature [22,75].…”

“…The rising urban population growth has caused a dramatic increase in municipal solid waste (MSW) generation, which was projected to increase from two billion tons estimated in 2016 to 3.5 billion tons within 30 years in east Saudi Arabia [ 1 ]. This has and will continue to cause serious environmental, health, and socioeconomic impacts, as a huge amount of land is used for waste disposal and storage, which consequently leads to air, soil, and underground water pollution [ 1 , 2 ]. The major contributing factors to the high increase in waste generation include rapid urbanisation, industrialisation, a change in consumption pattern and lifestyle, as well as the introduction of hazardous waste that is harmful to the public and environment [ 2 ].…”

“…This has and will continue to cause serious environmental, health, and socioeconomic impacts, as a huge amount of land is used for waste disposal and storage, which consequently leads to air, soil, and underground water pollution [1,2]. The major contributing factors to the high increase in waste generation include rapid urbanisation, industrialisation, a change in consumption pattern and lifestyle, as well as the introduction of hazardous waste that is harmful to the public and environment [2].…”

Exploring the Theory Planned Behaviour to Derive the Factors of Human Behaviour for Domestic Waste Recycling

“…This statement was supported by Miafodzyeva & Brandt (2013) and Thomas & Sharp (2013), who assessed that the lack of appropriate infrastructure could discourage the residents from recycling. Therefore, convenience is one of the most significant factors to encourage the public towards waste separation (Khalil et al, 2019). These factors impact the recycling attitude and the willingness to recycle, significantly affecting the overall environment.…”