Quien Recicla

Journal ofEnvimnmento1
Psychology
CD1996 Academic Press Limited

(1995) lS, lOE-121

0272-4944@5/020105+17$4NOWQ

WHO RECYCLES AND WHEN?
A REVIEW OF PERSONAL AND SITUATIONAL

FACTORS

P. WESLEY SCHULTZ, STUART OSKAMPAND TINA MAINIERI

The Claremont

Graduate

School, 123E Eighth Street, Claremont,

CA 91711-3955,

U.S.A.

Abstract
Despite the societal importance ofreusing waste materials, few empirical studies have specifically examined
recycling behaviors as differentiated from attitudes and intentions. This paper reviews the empirical studies
of recycling, summarizes research findings, and identifies areas for future research. The effects on recycling
behavior of both personal variables (personality, demographics, and attitudes of environmental concern) andmanipulable situational variables are reviewed. Results indicate that high income is a good predictor of
recycling, whereas gender and age are not. General environmental concern appears to be related to recycling
only when recycling requires a high degree of effort. However, relevant specific attitudes have consistently
been found to correlate with recycling behavior. The seven situationalvariables reviewed (prompts, public
commitment, normative influence, goal setting, removing barriers, providing rewards, and feedback) all
produce significant increases in recycling behavior. However, there are several major limitations to the
research. Results are based largely on single-variable assessments of recycling, and fail to consider interactions
with characteristics of the environmentor the population involved.

Introduction
The need to recycle used materials has become a
pressing issue over the last 30 years (Ladd, 1990).
This increasing concern is clearly evidenced in the
proliferation
of federal, state, and local legislation
directed toward the implementation
.of recycling
programs. In 1993 in the U.S.A., 41 of the 50 states
had in place laws specifying aminimum
level of
refuse that must be recycled (Grogan, 1993). Despite
the increasing
concern regarding
conservation
of
natural
resources,
scant psychological
research
has been conducted on recycling or conservation behaviors as differentiated
from attitudes, intentions,
and beliefs. Although reviews of varied pro-environmental behaviors have previously been published
(Geller et al., 1982;Dwyer et al., 19931, the topic of
recycling behaviors has received relatively
little
attention. Given the recent explosion of communitywide recycling programs in the U.S.A. and other

countries, a review of the scientific research is
needed. This paper reviews the empirical psychological research conducted

on factors that influence

recycling behavior.
This

literature

reviewstrategies of investigation:
The personal
strategy

focuses on two

general

personal and situational.
for studying
recycling

behaviors has attempted to identify characteristics
of an individual that are associated with recycling
behavior. Such characteristics
include attitudes
about the environment,
demographic variables, and
personality
constructs.
The situational
strategyattempts
to identify
manipulable
aspects of a
particular
environment
that facilitate
recycling
behaviors. Two general classes of variables have
been studied: antecedents and consequences (Geller,
1989).
The term recycling can be defined as the process
through
which materials
previously
used are
collected, processed, remanufactured,
and reused
(Ruiz, 1993). This paper focusesexclusively on the
collection process. For a discussion of processing
and reusing aspects of recycling, see Cichonski and
Hill (1990). During the past 10 years, the types of
materials
collected and recycled have increased
greatly, as have the strategies used to collect
recyclable material. Folz (1991) listed 13 materials
that were being collected and recycled in municipal
recycling programs...