COMMINGLED VERSUS SEPARATED CURBSIDE RECYCLING - DOES SORTING MATTER

Household curbside recycling behavior was observed in two similar, adj acent cities. In one, all recyclables were mixed together, and in the other, four types of materials were separated. As predicted, the commi ngled program achieved a higher average weekly participation rate (58% vs. 42%), and more households participated at least once in 8 consecu tive weeks (90% vs. 77%). The commingled program also generated more g allons of recyclables (32.1 vs. 5.5 per household per week). In the ci ty with the commingled program, there was a significant level of consi stency in the frequency of household recycling participation across a 2-year period (r=.45); overall participation remained over 90% for tha t period. High, medium, and low socioeconomic residential areas in bot h cities displayed some significant differences in participation and q uantity recycled. surprisingly, areas with volunteer recycling block l eaders did not have, higher levels of participation than comparable ar eas without block leaders.