Recycling: Great Expectations and Garbage Outcomes. Special Issue: Household Refuse Analysis--Theory, Method, and Applications in Social Science

Studied what factors would be most effective in motivating different socioeconomic groups to change their discard behaviors and participate in recycling programs by analyzing newspaper and aluminum-can disposal and by interviewing 73 households of differing socioeconomic levels on their recycling behavior. Data indicate that what Ss said about recycling and how they disposed of recyclable materials were inconsistent. Ss from higher-income households reported more recycling behaviors, but analyses of household refuse showed similar patterns of disposal of recyclable materials by households of differing socioeconomic characteristics.