PUBLIC-PARTICIPATION IN PLASTICS RECYCLING SCHEMES

Without public contributions, recycling from domestic waste would not be possible. In order to support recycling projects it is important to try to understand who recycles, how they recycle, and why they recycl e. This paper presents the results of a structured survey of 500 membe rs of the public served by schemes to collect plastics waste for recyc ling. Data were gathered on the characteristics, behaviours and motiva tions of recyclers. The authors also sought to discover how the public perceive plastics compared to other materials, and as a recyclable ma terial. Responses were collected in such a way that the awareness of t he recyclability of materials could be compared with the recycling beh aviour of respondents. An element of comparison was introduced between those served by a system of bottle banks (bring scheme) and those cov ered by a household collection (collect scheme). The survey results ar e reported and their implications for the management of post-consumer plastics waste collection schemes are discussed. (C) 1998 Elsevier Sci ence B.V. All rights reserved.