Surveying

the Inuence of Scien2c Informa2on on U of I

Students Recycling Behaviors
By: Zach Hull and Brendan McConnor
University of Idaho College of Natural Resources

Introduc2on

There is a lack of informa2on regarding the issue of why and whether or not people recycle paper. More
specically, if and why young adults studying at the University of Idaho recycle. We are curious to
understand how many students par2cipate in waste reduc2on ac2vi2es, specically related to paper. There
is not a lot of scien2c literature on the inuence science has on recycling behavior.

We are inves2ga2ng whether it is scien2c evidence, awareness or social pressures that get people to
recycle. The reason we are curious to understand this rela2onship, is because increasing popula2ons and
lack of resources will likely lead to increased consump2on, waste. Understanding these inuences can lead
to successful ideas and campaigns advoca2ng for recycling and waste management.





We used the Theory of Planned Behaviors or TPB, which is a systema2cal model that can be applied in
measuring and understanding the underlying causes behind certain behaviors (Ajzen 1991). A college
student chooses to recycle based on the variables of their situa2onal opportuni2es, aRtudes towards
science, environment, and social pressures. The TPB uses these three factors, (aRtude, subjec2ve norms,
perceived behavioral control) to calculate the perceived inten2ons of persons behaviors.











(Ajzen 1991)




Attitudes Towards Recycling Behaviors - ARtudes an individual feels towards a behavior.

Subjec7ve norms - Subjec2ve norms refer to the inuence of social pressures on individuals to perform a
behavior. These are social pressures that an individual takes into account and are usually a person or group
of people that the person admire and/or trust.

Perceived Behavioral Controls - Perceived behavioral controls represents the persons known opportuni2es,
or the amount of eort it takes an individual to perform a behavior.

Methods

Results

A&tude Towards The Behavior

I Recycle Because...
I Do Not Recycle Because...

It reduces the eects of

The evidence in support of
climate change
recycling is not conclusive


Recycling saves me money

It is too much eect to recycle
my household waste

Recyling is environmentaly

responsible

There is no personal benet
Not recycling goes against my

principles

Recycling is a waste of 2me
The knowledge I have of the
recycling process


0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%


Behavioral Controls


The county/City picks up my
recycling



know where to take my household
I waste
for recycling.



I know what items of household waste
can be recycled.

-2
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
2

Disagree Somewhat Disagree

Somewhat Agree
Agree


Subjec7ve Norms

Scien2c Informa2on inuences my
behaviors.

I grew up with recycling in my
hometown community.
I agree with the recycling policy of my
hometown.

I look up to people who recycle
their household waste.

-2

Survey Approach

We began by asking ques2ons rela2ng to each factor. Then, to beTer understand the inuence scien2c
informa2on has on recycling behaviors, we intervene with informa2on regarding the eciency of recycling
dierent materials. The informa2on we presented showed varying eciencies in recycling of these
materials, meaning, evalua2ons spoke in favor of recycling most materials, with the excep2on of paper and
glass, which showed a possible ineciency, leading to a possibly predictable change in response, or lack of,
depending on the respondent. We had a separate survey that was given to half of our par2cipants, in which
the informa2on advocated for recycling of all materials. This was done to help prove whether or not
par2cipants were basing theyre responses on the informa2on we provided.

The materials we listed are aluminum, )n, paper, plas)c, glass. By using follow up ques2ons we were
able gauge the condence & trust people have in scien2c informa2on.

A Likert scale from 1-4 was used for most ques2ons, others were check all that apply
Sample Size of 154 respondents.

-1.5

-1

-0.5

Disagree Somewhat Disagree

0.5

Somewhat Agree

1.5

Agree

I am condent that I can trust the

informa2on.

I am condent that I can trust the

informa2on provided on paper.

-1.5

-1

Disagree Somewhat Disagree

-0.5

0.5

Reported Increase In Disposi7on to Recycle

Somewhat Agree

1.5

Agree

Servey One
Survey Two

80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Aluminum

Tin

Paper

Plas2c

Glass

**Condence level of 90% with an interval of (+-) 2%**

Limita2ons

We found that due to the length of our survey, which took par2cipants on average about 7 minutes to
complete, handing it out was dicult to do. Undergraduate classes were where most of our surveys were
handed out. Fity minutes is a valuable amount of 2me to professors, and approaching people between
classes or in the library was dicult due to the burden we were placing on possible par2cipants. Future
surveys would be done electronically and sent out to as many students as possible; streamlining the data
collec2on. It should be remembered that stated change in behavior is not representa2ve of an individuals
actual behavior.

Conclusion

We found out that University of Idaho students know what to recycle and where to take their recycling,
and that, for the most part, they trust scien2c informa2on, however, half of the people that took our
survey stated that the reason they dont recycle is because it takes too much eort.

Since individuals wont automa2cally set up their own recycling system at home, there is a need for easier
means of recycling residen2al waste, because many respondents claim the city/county does not pick up
their recycling, which is up to the land lord in many cases for college students. From our results, we have
shown a response to scien7c informa7on, thus a need for easier means of recycling. Our sugges2on to
do so, is to oer incen2ves and consequences for our waste reducing and waste crea2ng behaviors. We
also advocate for single stream recycling system

We observed a 24% decrease in disposi7on to recycle glass between the dierent surveys, and a 30%
decrease with paper.





Bert Baumgartner (Advisor)
Jackie Maximillian (Instructor)
Sandye Crooks (Educa2on outreach Coordinator @ Latah Sanita2on, INC. Moscow Recycling)
Donnie Ely (Plant Manager Clear Water Paper Corpora2on)

Acknowledgments

Tonglet, Phillips, Read, M. (2004). Using the Theory of Planned Behavior to inves2gate the determinants of recycling behavior:
A case study from Brixworth, UK. Resource, Conserva2on, and Recycling, 41(3), 191-2014. Retrieved from
hTp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar2cle/pii/S0921344903001629

Ajzen, I. (n.d.). Download PDFs. Retrieved December 11, 2014, from
hTp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar2cle/pii/074959789190020T

Myers, D. (2008). Behavior and ARtudes. In Social psychology (9th ed., pp. 120-128). Boston: McGraw-Hill.

Theory of Planned Behavior/ Reasoned Ac2on. (n.d.). Retrieved December 10, 2014, from hTp://www.utwente.nl/cw/
theorieenoverzicht/theory clusters/health communica2on/theory_planned_behavior/

References

Trust in Our Scien7c Informa7on

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