Examining the Effects of Recycling Outreach on Recycling Behavior in Residence Halls at the University of California Berkeley Garth Schultz Abstract Recycling outreach also called recycling education is a method that recycling organizations use to promote recycling behavior Little is currently known about whether recycling outreach methods are successful at achieving the goal of increased recycling participation This study examined the effect of recycling outreach on the weight of mixed paper recycled in four residence halls at University of California Berkeley After collecting initial baseline measurement for three weeks posters aimed at changing attitudes and perceptions about recycling were placed in two of the four residence halls and measurements were collected for a period of three more weeks The data from residence halls with posters was compared to the control residence halls without posters and to the baseline data No significant difference was detected between the amount of mixed paper recycled in residence halls with poster and residence halls without posters These results indicate that the recycling education poster approach used in this study is ineffective at increasing recycling participation in a university residence hall setting Introduction One of the main ways that society engages in environmentally conscious behavior is by recycling goods and materials after they have outlived their usefulness to consumers In the 1980 s state local and federal governments across the US began recognizing recycling as a socially and economically desirable behavior Government agencies and legislators have implemented policies that encourage recycling activities using voluntary and mandatory standards or monetary incentives De Young 1990 Margai 1997 In some cases governments have mandated recycling quotas for counties and municipalities However in practice convincing people to recycle is a long and difficult process Bauer 2001 pers comm Therefore it benefits recycling managers and policy makers to determine what factors influence recycling behavior Many studies have identified factors that predict whether people recycle These include economic and cultural background educational level motivation attitude demography ease of recycling and concern for the environment De Young 1990 Katzev et al 1990 Oskamp et al 1991 Goldenhar et al 1993 Howenstine 1993 Chung et al 1996 Berger 1997 Margai 1997 Vencatasawmy et al 1999 Butler et al 2000 However although such studies outline the major determinants of recycling behavior they give little indication about proven methods to change the behaviors themselves Furthermore many of these factors that influence recycling participation like demography and socio economic status cannot be directly influenced by policy makers and recycling managers Of the factors identified in previous studies the ones that recycling managers can reasonably expect to influence are attitudes about recycling motivation to recycle and awareness of environmental issues Goldenhar 1993 Shapek 1993 Skumatz et al 2001 One of the main ways in which recycling managers attempt to affect these factors is through the use of recycling outreach Bauer 2001 pers comm Skumatz et al 2001 The California Department of Conservation the Alameda County Waste Management Authority and the University of California Berkeley all engage in recycling outreach as a method of increasing recycling participation The most comprehensive research regarding the effects of recycling outreach looked at the effects of 140 recycling and diversion outreach campaigns upon rates of recycling participation in cities and counties Skumatz et al 2001 This research assumed that any change in recycling participation was due to a change in recycling behavior caused by the educational outreach approaches used Skumatz and Green found that educational outreach methods including mailings brochures billboards and newspaper ads did increase recycling participation However the study did not use controls relying instead upon baseline data for each municipality as a standard for comparison It is possible that influences other than recycling outreach such as changes in consumption patterns and market rates of recyclable materials could have influenced recycling participation in the communities that were studied Because the Skumatz and Green study was large in scope it is not likely that the results are compromised by the absence of control data Furthermore the findings of Skumatz and Green cannot be directly applied to university living situations because student housing differs from most cities and counties in demography social and physical environments and methods of recycling Therefore it is not correct to assume that students will be influenced by the same educational outreach methods which increased recycling participation in the Skumatz and Green study For example the student population in dormitories changes from year to year which requires that recycling education campaigns in dorms be applied repeatedly and be informative to new residents The same cannot be said of municipalities whose populations are largely static Unlike the methods used by Skumatz and Green this experiment uses control and treatment study sites to control for variation in recycling participation due to factors other than the applied recycling outreach The objective of this research project was to determine the effects of a poster campaign aimed towards increasing recycling participation in a UC Berkeley Residence Hall Based upon a general consensus in the recycling field that outreach education is effective at changing recycling behavior Bauer 2001 pers comm Skumatz et al 2001 my hypothesis was that the recycling outreach campaign would positively increase recycling participation This hypothesis was made on the basis that the recycling outreach poster used in this study was modeled after other educational recycling outreach campaigns used by the California Department of Conservation and the Alameda County Waste Management Authority Methods Study Sites A set of four residence halls within the UC Berkeley s Unit I were chosen as the experimental sites Cheney Putnam Deutch and Freeborn Residence Halls were nearly identical in layout demography and completely identical in the recycling and trash services provided Each building consisted of eight floors each with about 30 residents per floor Every building had separate trash and mixed paper recycling chutes
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