Solid Waste Recovery: A Review of Behavioral Programs to Increase Recycling. Special Issue: Litter Control and Recycling

Reviewed 27 articles describing 31 experiments to document the research that specifically targeted recycling with behavior change (BC) programs. Behavioral interventions (BIs) in these articles were categorized into antecedents (i.e., conditions introduced prior to the target behavior) and consequences (i.e., conditions presented after the target behavior occurred). 20 experiments manipulated antecedent conditions as the primary BI, 10 focused on consequences, and 1 used both. The general conclusion of the review was that the years of effort have produced several successful BIs that showed promise for increasing recycling behavior. However, very few of these BIs demonstrated response maintenance after being discontinued, a finding common for such BIs not only targeting recycling but BC in general. The need for BIs to motivate long-term BC and BIs aimed at reducing the amount of waste generated is discussed.