Household Waste Sorting and Engagement in Everyday Life Occupations After Migration—A Scoping Review

Abstract

The aim of this scoping review was to gain an overview of the current state of the literature on the engagement in waste sorting post migration from an occupational perspective, in the light of two aspects sustainability efforts currently face: Increased human migration and environmental degradation. Both the resource recovery and occupational science literature were reviewed and analyzed. However, despite the current lack on studies on how migrants' transition into waste sorting schemes at the household level, this scoping review was able to provide a broad picture of the engagement in daily activities that support sustainability, such as household waste sorting. Given the current initiatives to develop efficient resource recovery from waste, such knowledge contributes to efforts to engage households with different cultures and experiences in waste sorting. The results highlight the importance of future research to better understand how people who are new to waste management schemes experience these, and study the way that engagement in waste sorting shifts and transforms. This is because providing such knowledge can contribute to raising awareness of the environmental impact of waste sorting, and inform policies aimed at sustainable waste management.

The Influence of User-Adapted, Instructive Information on Participation in a Recycling Scheme: A Case Study in a Medium-Sized Swedish City

“…Yet, the population studied here included international students, which indicates that the perceived importance of waste sorting is not restricted to the context of Sweden or local social norms. In fact, this finding is in line with other studies that have shown that people with an immigration background display the same attitudes towards recycling as nonimmigrants (e.g., [26,27]) and that the perception of the benefits of waste sorting is the main trigger for waste sorting behavior among ethnically diverse people in Sweden [28]. However, currently there is insufficient knowledge on the role of attitudes, culture, traditions and language in waste sorting behavior [26].…”

Household Waste Sorting Participation in Developing Countries—A Meta-Analysis

“…The social pressure that people may perceive from the broader society influences moral norms regarding participation in waste sorting [64], given that people might look at the habits of the broader society before choosing to behave in specific ways [91]. However, subjective norms also center around how that engagement takes place while recognizing the role that culture may play in shaping the significance and expectation of the participation in sorting [23].…”

“…Learning from people who made sorting their waste an everyday routine can aid tailoring campaigns aimed at moral norms. It can do so by providing knowledge and raising awareness about how individual action can improve the environment and human well-being locally and globally [23].…”

“…Not knowing how to sort or where to bring sorted waste prevents participation in waste sorting [97,104,105]. Insufficient information provided to the public about what resource recovery can do and the difference that waste sorting can make might be a reason for low participation, given that such knowledge may otherwise be an incentive to sort the waste [23]. Given that language can be a barrier, visual and nonverbal communication, such as symbols or color-coded systems, may help instruct how to sort the different fractions of the waste [106].…”

“…Waste management systems are often set up in a way in which the goal is to landfill as little as possible and recycle, reduce and reuse as many resources as possible [22]. In order to achieve this, waste management systems need to encourage the public's participation because people can make a direct impact by making waste sorting part of their everyday routines [23].…”