Modeling Recycling Behavior through the Audit of Disposed Items: Benefits and Methodological Challenges of Field Studies on Environmental Behavior

Torsten Reimer, Juan Pablo, Devika Banerji, & Chris Roland

What factors affect people’s behavior when they dispose items? The distance hypothesis predicts that the number of misplaced items in bins is a function of the distance of an appropriate bin. We categorized and mapped bins at 140 locations on the campus of a major research university in the Midwest and calculated the distances between adjacent bins. The distance hypothesis predicts that users dispose more recyclables in single, isolated trash bins than in trash bins that are paired with recycling bins. Likewise, it is expected that more trash items can be found in isolated compared to paired recycling bins. We conducted a field study that involved systematic comparisons of matched locations and focused on behavioral data that were obtained through systematic audits of the selected trash and recycling bins. The presentation focuses on methodological issues of behavioral field studies that make inferences from artifacts and traces of human interactions about human behavior without directly observing that behavior. In the specific case of possible effects of the distance of bins on recycling behaviors, weather conditions and adverse environmental conditions, the color, size, signage, and position of the bins as well as the difficulty of individual items and consumers’ knowledge are important extraneous variables to consider when evaluating the reliability and validity of the used measures.