Collecting recyclables at corporate sites: attempts to increase employee participation

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of corporate-based recycling for communities without access to curb-side pick up of recyclable material. The secondary purpose was to use the taxonomy of behavior change strategies as devised by Geller et al. (1990a, b). The hypotheses of the study were as follows: 1) corporate-based recycling is an effective means of dealing with residential waste management in a rural community, 2) the effectiveness of one behavior change technique with a score of three (as proposed in the Taxonomy of Behavior Change Techniques) will be the same as an intervention package comprised of several techniques with a score of three, 3) the smaller the company, the more effective the intervention package and, 4) salaried employees will deposit more recyclable materials per person at the drop-off site than wage employees.

Recycling drop off sites were established at the work place of rural residents as an alternative to curb-side pick up of recyclable material. Three sites chosen were located in a rural community in Southwestern Virginia. Two of the companies produced machine parts (n= 220, n=300). The third company produced printed material (n=32). Each company had both male and female wage and salaried employees with varying ages and levels of income.

Recyclable materials (clear glass, green glass, brown glass and aluminum cans) were collected in four 33 gallon barrels in the parking lot of each company every Friday and weighed at the county collection center. In an attempt to motivate participation in the recycling program, the employees were informed of the availability of the barrels, given written prompts in the form of paycheck inserts and posters, and given group feedback in the form of a poster showing the weekly amount of each material collected at an individual company. One company also received a group meeting to promote consensus and to determine the weakness of the project. All prompts and feedback were given as a package at discrete periods of time in a multiple baseline design by groups. The intervention package was given twice at one site to determine the impact of repeated exposure to the intervention materials.

Findings of the study indicated an erratic pattern of participation across the three sites. One site had such low participation that it was dropped from the study. The intervention packages did not significantly increase participation and the differences between wage and salaried employees were insignificant. It must be concluded that while some employees did participate in the recycling program refinements to both the interventions and the measurement techniques are needed. Directions for future research on the feasibility of corporate-based are discussed.