Practicing the Politics of Inclusion: Citizen Surveys and the Design of Solid Waste Recycling Programs

Abstract

This study presents a framework for applying and interpreting citizen surveys to formulate community recycling programs. Viewed as a coproduced service, a recycling program's success depends on strong and sustained public support and participation. We find that knowing citizen opinions and attitudes toward recycling can help public managers maximize citizen participation in recycling. This analysis supports the value of conducting citizen opinion surveys as part of the recycling program design. Furthermore, such surveys are useful management tools for learning local opinions and attitudes that can be used to improve program design and sustain citizen participation in a community recycling program.