Consumers Attitude and Behavior Towards Domestic Waste Recycling in Developing Countries: A Case Study

Abstract

Participation of consumers in any domestic waste recycling program is vital for its success. Many developing countries are starting domestic waste recycling programs but little is known on the attitude or behavior of consumers toward this issue. This presents a hurdle to the success of such programs. This paper addresses consumers' attitude and behavior toward domestic waste recycling in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). A specially tailored questionnaire was randomly distributing to a sample of one thousand consumers in UAE asking them a multitude of questions on their attitude, behavior and practices in relation to domestic waste recycling. Results indicate that only a small percentage of people actually participate in recycling even though they are aware of the deteriorating environmental quality and acknowledging that recycling preserves resources and protects the environment. Results also show that this difference between consumers' attitude and practices might be due to some obstacles including lack of recycling bins and the long distance needed to reach those bins. Finally, some practical solutions to improve consumers' participation in recycling in UAE are given.

The Potential of Food Packaging Attributes to Influence Consumers’ Decisions to Sort Waste

“…Two of the most recognized models that are used to explain recycling behavior, the theory of reasoned action [55] and the theory of planned behavior [56], agree that consumer attitude (the person's evaluation of favoring or not favoring the action) and environmental knowledge (awareness of environmental issues) are important predictors of consumer recycling behavior. Consumers with a positive attitude are more motivated to recycle [55][56][57][58][59]. The attitude itself can be affected by environmental knowledge [57].…”

“…Consumers with a positive attitude are more motivated to recycle [55][56][57][58][59]. The attitude itself can be affected by environmental knowledge [57]. A higher level of environmental knowledge increases the probability that consumers sort their waste [57,58].…”

“…The attitude itself can be affected by environmental knowledge [57]. A higher level of environmental knowledge increases the probability that consumers sort their waste [57,58]. Several studies showed that attitude can be influenced by the material that the packaging is made from, especially when consumers believe that recycling the material can have a significant environmental impact [59].…”

“…Packaging can be one of the best carriers of this information, whether the information is communicated consciously or unconsciously, since it can provide information that is relevant for the given package and at the time when this information is needed [63]. However, this is not a trivial task, since consumers are surrounded by large amounts of information, so that the information may be disregarded [57]. Also, since paying attention to information is a voluntary task, consumers who are not interested in recycling may ignore the information [61], especially if it is difficult to read or understand [35].…”