Social factors influencing household waste separation : a literature review on good practices to improve the recycling performance of urban areas
Knickmeyer, Doris (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)

Date:	2020
Abstract:	As population density, urbanization and industrialization continue to increase, so do quantities of global urban waste worldwide. Still, compact urban areas record low-performing rates of recyclables. Improving the recycling performance in order to recover qualitative materials, save resources and keep waste out of landfills belongs to the pressing challenges of our time. Moving towards a circular economy requires active public participation in waste management and pre-sorting of wastes at home. In the process of establishing and improving well-performing municipal solid waste management systems (MSWMS) the understanding of fundamental social factors to influence household behaviour is commonly underestimated but of utmost importance. Compiling theory and good practices from cities globally, this paper intends to support practitioners and policy makers from different backgrounds to design future strategies and interventions to motivate household waste separation behaviour. By means of an extensive literature review a general overview of the main social factors influencing household recycling behaviour is given and key motivation drivers for behavioural change are identified. Followed by a presentation of international good practices and recommendations for urban areas, special attention was given to high-density contexts. The results in combination are supposed to serve as a resource for practitioners and as a basis to develop further studies focusing on the improvement of recycling behaviour in defined urban areas and tailored to the local situation.
Note:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-M
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, i la comunicació pública de l'obra, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. No es permet la creació d'obres derivades.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article de revisió ; Article ; Versió acceptada per publicar
Subject:	Behaviour change ; Household waste ; Municipal waste management ; Recycling behaviour ; Social factors ; Waste separation
Published in:	Journal of cleaner production, Vol. 245 (February 2020) , art. 118605, ISSN 1879-1786

DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118605

Postprint 33 p, 557.9 KB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA)
Articles > Published articles