Norms and economic motivation in household recycling: Empirical evidence from Sweden

Hage, Olle; Söderholm, Patrik; Berglund, Christer

doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2008.11.003

Cited by 244 publications

(211 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…The importance of non-monetary incentives in waste recycling has already been emphasized in literature (Berglund, 2006;Brekke et al 2003Brekke et al , 2007Brekke et al , 2010Hage et al 2009;Halvorsen, 2008). Kinnaman (2006) indeed suggests that the benefits of recycling households are increased more by warm-glow incentives than by unit-based pricing, to the point that households may even be willing to pay for the opportunity to recycle 7 .…”

Section: Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Waste prevention and social preferences: the role of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations

Cecere

Mancinelli

Mazzanti

2014

Ecological Economics

179

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Though reduction is at the top of the waste management hierarchy, EU policies have historically introduced waste management incentives mainly concerning waste recovery and recycling, in addition to actions aimed at reducing disposal in landfills. Only very recently have EU policies started defining targets for waste reduction. Against this backdrop, we aim to examine whether individual behavior towards waste reduction is more strongly driven by extrinsic motivations such as social norms, or intrinsic motivations such as purely altruistic preferences. We exploit a large new survey that covers thousands of individuals for the EU27, to test the role of motivations when people are faced with collective management of the public good. We find that diverse motivations are behind the reduction of food waste: extrinsic motivations nevertheless increase the likelihood of producing more waste. Green consumption / recycling-oriented attitudes and individualistic thinking about waste management relate to 'waste producers'. This shows that in order to go beyond a recycling-oriented society towards reduction of the source of waste externality -its generation -the nature of social preferences matters. Behavior patterns leading to waste reduction are less socially oriented, less exposed to peer pressure and more reliant upon purely 'altruistic' social attitudes. Policy makers should learn from the relevant insights on social behavior we here address if our societies aim to fully integrate the idea of waste reduction alongside recycling in the future.

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Section: Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Waste prevention and social preferences: the role of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations

Cecere

Mancinelli

Mazzanti

2014

Ecological Economics

179

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“…Most researchers have found correlations between income and recycling behaviour, as we can see in Fig. 5 [9, 20-23, 28, 32-37], whilst a minority of others have reported no correlation [7,25,26,31]. However this correlation is not constant.…”

Section: Socio-demographic Variablesmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…4). Some authors have found a relationship between recycling behaviour and age [10,[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29], but others report no significant correlation [4,7,[30][31][32][33].…”

Section: Socio-demographic Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Recycling Behaviour Among Householders: Synthesizing Determinants Via a Meta-analysis

Miafodzyeva

Brandt

2012

Waste Biomass Valor

209

165

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PostprintThis is the accepted version of a paper published in Waste and Biomass Valorization. This paper has been peer-reviewed but does not include the final publisher proof-corrections or journal pagination. Abstract A meta-analysis was made of results from previous studies on different variables influencing and determining the recycling behaviour of householders. These studies were conducted by researchers working in various fields in a number of different countries and are published in diverse journals. We evaluated trends in research outputs in the period 1990-2010, during which the provision of recycling facilities to householders has greatly expanded and requirements have become more extensive and often more complex. Variables affecting the recycling behaviour of householders were classified into four theoretical groups: socio-psychological, technical-organisational, individual socio-demographic and study-specific. These groups (clusters) were identified in a meta-analysis of 63 empirical studies culled from published research. The strongest predictors of householders' recycling behaviour were identified as being convenience, moral norms, information and environmental concern. The theoretical framework developed can be used to formulate questionnaires and in data analysis.

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“…This includes recycling (Callan and Thomas, 2006;Ferrara and Missios, 2005;Fiorillo, 2013;Hage et al, 2009;López-Mosquera et al, 2015;Zen et al, 2014), energy conserving practices (Mills and Schleich, 2012), water saving behaviours (Clark and Finley, 2007) and a wide range of carbon emission reduction actions e.g. reducing the use of car, avoiding taking short-haul flights, reducing the consumption of disposable items and buying seasonal and local products (Ortega-Egea et al, 2014).…”

Section: Education and Environmental Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 99%

Green Returns to Education: Does Schooling Contribute to Pro-Environmental Behaviours? Evidence from Thailand

Chankrajang

Muttarak

2017

Ecological Economics

156

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We investigate whether there are green returns to education, where formal education encourages pro-environmental behaviours using nationally representative surveys on environmental issues in Thailand. To establish the causal relationship between education and green behaviours, we exploit the instrumental variables strategy using the supply of state primary schooling i.e. the corresponding number of teachers per 1000 children, which varies over time and across regions as the instrument, while controlling for regional, cohort and income effects. We find that more years of schooling lead to a greater probability of taking knowledge-based environmentallyfriendly actions a great deal, but not cost-saving pro-environmental actions. In addition, the paper finds no significant impact of formal education on concern about global warming nor the willingness to pay for environmental tax.

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Norms and economic motivation in household recycling: Empirical evidence from Sweden

Cited by 244 publications

References 34 publications

Waste prevention and social preferences: the role of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations

Waste prevention and social preferences: the role of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations

Recycling Behaviour Among Householders: Synthesizing Determinants Via a Meta-analysis

Green Returns to Education: Does Schooling Contribute to Pro-Environmental Behaviours? Evidence from Thailand

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