Driving Measurable Improvement in Household Recycling Behaviors (WasteExpo 2023)

If every home in the U.S. had adequate access to recycling, we would STILL lose more than half of all residential recyclable material – that amounts to roughly 15 million tons of economic value and environmental benefit lost each year. Our industry know why - Americans are confused about what and how to recycle and lack confidence in the processes. If we want to improve recycling, and ultimately mobilize household participation in the circular economy, we need to help strengthen recycling behavior in homes.  In this session, The Recycling Partnership will share their new research from The Center for Sustainable Behavior & Impact that will help shed light on how we can help communities optimize recycling, including:  Consumer segmentation and ethnographic research that document resident barriers and sentiments towards recycling. Insights from research - residents motivations, challenges, and systems for recycling; areas where we can better assist. Learnings from 19 different intervention strategies – what worked, what didn’t. Measuring the impact of programmatic and educational programs effectiveness.