Evaluating Participation in a Residential Recycling Program

The present study examined the effects of prompting, payment for material, a lottery, and frequency of collection on household participation in a residential recycling program. Homes in the lottery group demonstrated the greatest increase in participation followed by equivalent outcomes for the remaining three treatment areas and no change for the control group. A cost/benefit analysis indicated that none of the treatments were cost effective but that steps could be taken to alleviate this problem. Future directions for research within this area are examined.