Development and Analysis of a Community-Based Resource Recovery Program

Five studies were conducted over a 10-mo period to determine the effectiveness of specific procedures in encouraging recycling among residential neighborhoods. Ss were selected from the 6,500 households that participated in the overall Leon County (Florida) Recycling Program. Results indicate that (a) initial levels of participation in neighborhoods were frequently related to housing values; (b) weekly recyling pick-ups that coincided with garbage collection days resulted in higher levels of participation than pick-ups that occurred at other times; (c) notifying homes about the recycling program through distributed door-to-door brochures was more effective than soliciting participation through newspaper advertisements; (d) distributing containers to help residents separate recyclable from nonrecyclable material was an effective procedure, especially when combined with frequent prompting (prompting alone did not have much effect); and (e) procedures that facilitated the greatest levels of participation were not always cost effective. The subsequent combination of these procedures into a package program resulted in high levels of neighborhood participation that were cost effective and maintained over a 6-mo period. (46 ref)