Purpose -Recycling facilities are not available in most Ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) Jewish neighborhoods in Israel. Servicing Ultra-Orthodox communities would offer significant relief for rapidly bloating landfills. Haredi communities have highly religious lifestyles, very large families and tend to cluster together in communities, posing significant challenges in urban planning and policy. With careful planning and education these communities have the potential to be high-yield recyclers, as the act of recycling plastic, paper and glass is not religiously prohibited. The purpose of this paper is to determine the feasibility of installing recycling facilities in two Ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods in Jerusalem. Design/methodology/approach -Data were collected by administering a short questionnaire to neighborhood residents and asking them questions about recycling behavior as well as demographic information.Findings -Ultra-Orthodox communities have a unique recycling narrative which determines the materials they are most likely to recycle. Rabbinical leaders and monetary incentives are instrumental in garnering support for recycling programs.Research limitations/implications -The findings shed light on demographic variables which influence recycling behavior such as age, gender, household size and religiosity/ethnicity. Practical implications -The rich data have significant planning and policy implications. As this study relies on statistically significant data, it is highly likely that the conclusions drawn are applicable to other Haredi neighborhoods and beyond. Originality/value -As a whole, Ultra-Orthodox attitudes and behaviors exposed in this study reveal, for the first time, a religious ethnography of recycling or a recycling narrative.

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The consumption of single-use plastics, such as disposable tableware (DTW), conveys a high benefit-cost ratio for consumers while having large environmental externalities. To encourage consumers to reduce their use of DTWs, governments could use small and non-coercive changes in people’s decision-making environments (nudges). This study focuses on the Israeli ultra-Orthodox communities a secluded population group that grows much faster- and consumes much more DTW than the rest of the Israeli population. Employing a quasi-representative sample (N = 450) of this population, this study conducted a discrete-choice experiment that presents the respondent with alternative options to reduce DTW. Two kinds of Nudges–framing and social norms–were utilized. The effectiveness of these Nudges in promoting PEB among faith-based communities has received little attention in previous studies. As another contribution to the literature, this paper also integrates latent constructs such as the respondents’ environmental attitudes and level of conservativeness. 46% of the respondents chose to opt-out whereas 29%, 14%, and 11% chose ‘1-day’, ‘2-days’, and ‘3-days’ per week avoiding DTW, respectively. Social norms, framings, and environmental attitudes had a significant mediating effect, with framing being associated with the highest effect on intentions to reduce DTW, i.e., a willingness to give up 0.31 USD per family member per month, compared to 0.07 USD for an increase in the description of the social norm. The results suggest that Nudges can enhance policies aimed at encouraging pro-environmental behavior among faith-based communities.