Implementing a Community-Based Social Marketing Program to Increase Recycling

Abstract

This article examines the effectiveness of implementing a community-based social marketing program to increase recycling. Researchers went door-to-door in a 200-home community distributing recycling containers, securing commitments to recycle, and increasing knowledge of what, why, how, and when to recycle. We analyzed the effect of the program by weighing recycling collected immediately after program implementation and then analyzing the weight of recycling collected a number of months later to measure sustainability. We found that automatic curbside distribution of recycling containers and face-to-face contact have a sizable, and partially sustainable, positive effect on the rate of recycling. Based on the results, we propose practical implications for motivating increased recycling.