Don’t be a waster! Student perceptions of recycling strategies at an English University’s halls of residence

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to explore student perceptions of recycling and explore whether one university’s strategy helped or hindered student recycling in their university's halls of residence. There is near-universal acknowledgement of the urgency of the climate crisis, yet household recycling rates remain low at 45.2%. Student-recycling rates have been suggested to be even lower. After a brief consideration of the recent history of sustainability and recycling, this paper identifies the actions required to increase student recycling, including peer influence, education and information, physical structures and attitudes and motivations. Design/methodology/approach Twelve in-depth, semi-structured interviews were undertaken at one Southern English university. The rich, qualitative data obtained were then analysed thematically. The theory of environmentally significant behaviour provided a framework for understanding perceptions and behaviours in that site. Findings Confirming aspects of existing literature, students’ recycling behaviours were found to be limited through lack of perceived ability, lack of facilities and unconfident knowledge. Students were also found to be limiting their own actions. A holistic approach including peer influence, education and information, physical structures and attitudes and motivations was recommended. Originality/value There is little research into student recycling behaviours and limited literature concerning halls of residence, especially in the UK. This paper draws on one case to add to nascent understandings. While limited to one site and by sample size, a number of recommendations are made, covering university facilities, student empowerment and individual responsibility to increase future recycling.

The Contribution of Openness to Experience in Establishing Pro-Environmental Behavior

“…In the recycling aspect, it was also found that 79 research subjects (36.57%) were still low in making efforts to recycle or support recycling efforts from some of the goods they owned, such as separating waste according to its category, sorting clothes or tools that were still worth using and so on. Dixon & Parker (2022) also found the same thing in their research on undergraduate students at a university in South England. Students still limited their recycling behavior due to their perceived lack of ability, facilities, knowledge, and self-confidence, thereby limiting this behavior.…”

Exploring Factors Promoting Recycling Behavior in Student Housing

“…Moving away from the internal workings of the individual, researchers have tried to find explanations in the built environment that can aid in our understanding of recycling behavior. Many studies stress the importance of recycling being easy and convenient, as this has an effect on recycling behavior [39][40][41][42][43][44]. Dahlén and Lagerkvist [45] identified nine structural conditions that affect recycling behavior.…”

“…Students are an important group when it comes to recycling, as they are young and on the brink of starting independent lives away from their families [39]. In this transition, students develop their own strategies and specific habits that will be influenced both by their previous home environment and their new surroundings.…”

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“…There is a rich body of literature which examines motivations and barriers to sustainability at HEIs. For example, researchers have conducted comparative international case studies (Ávila et al , 2019; Leal Filho et al , 2017), examined the construction of green buildings (Richardson and Lynes, 2007), studied student perceptions of recycling (Dixon and Parker, 2022) and addressed how ambiguity impacts sustainability at HEIs (Bien and Klußmann, 2022).…”