The Influence of Facilities and Environmental Values on Recycling in an Office Environment

Abstract

With rising costs of landfill and waste management for businesses, it is increasingly important to understand how to gain high recycling rates through self-separation by occupants in the office environment. Through a detailed case study approach, this paper shows that the office environment does have a profound effect on environmental behaviour. The findings indicate that with careful analysis, facilities can be designed around behaviour to encourage the highest possible recycling rates. The paper shows that a generalised system of recycling for all facilities is not the way forward. Different organisational cultures may foster different environmental behaviours and thus require variable facilities to maximise participation. The paper also reveals the causes of particular types of recycling behaviour.

Modelling How Managers Support Their Subordinates Toward Environmental Sustainability: A Moderated-Mediation Study

“…Brothers et al (1994) reported that proximity of facilities (trash, containers and bins) coupled with memos over time had a significant effect on employees' recycling behavior, diminishing the cost of trash removal. Price and Pitt (2012) confirmed these findings and claimed that location of available facilities affected non-recycling activities at work more than personal attitude toward the environment.…”

“…As noticed Klein and Huffman (2013) although "recycling is one of the lower-impact environmental sustainability behaviors, it still provides substantial savings to organizations " (p. 8). Surprisingly, whereas most prior research has addressed individuals' recycling behavior in non-work domains (e.g., Fiorillo , 2013;Hornik, Cherian, Madansky & Narayana, 1995;Gillespie & Bennett, 2013;Schultz, Oskamp & Mainieri, 1995;Sidique, Lupi & Joshi, 2010;Tucker & Speirs, 2003), workplace recycling remains largely overlooked, with the exception of a handle of research (Austin, Hatfield, Grindle, & Bailey, 1993;Brothers, Krantz & McClannahan, 1994;Greaves, Zibarras & Stride, 2013;Lee, De Young & Marans, 1995;MacDonald, 2011;Price & Pitt, 2012;Tudor, Barr, Gilg, 2007). Typically, these prior investigations on recycling in organizational settings have to a large extent put the emphasis on facilities, and revealed that maintaining employee willingness to use appropriate bins is an important challenge for organizations (Austin et al, Ramus (2001) has found that employees are more likely to engage in environmental initiatives on the job when they perceive that their supervisor encourages new ideas, is open-minded, provides regular training to subordinates, shares critical information, rewards efforts, and shows a sense of responsibility.…”

“…Only a handle of research can be found in the relevant literature. Depending the specific question analyzed, available findings have typically focused on the degree to which employees have an access to facilities for sorting waste (Austin et al 1993;Brothers et al 1994;Price & Pitt, 2012), or whether individual attitudes in private setting may be a good predictors when they are at work (Lee et al 1995;MacDonald, 2011), or if advices from colleagues, or normative pressures contribute to shape the awareness about energy saving (Carrico & Riemer, 2011;Zhang, Wang & Zhou, 2013). Finally, relatively few research efforts have sought to put the focus on employee environmental commitment that can contribute to maintain employee willingness to adopt conservation behavior in work settings.…”

Formation Mechanism and Performance of Dynamic Membrane Technology for Municipal Wastewater Treatment - A Review

“…Similar observations (and conclusions) have been made in examinations of the automotive [9,10], office [11,12] and institutional [13,14] sectors. The consensus appears to be that while many IC&I establishments implement waste management programs, insufficient planning is spent on source reduction, or diverting waste from disposal.…”

Workplace Waste Recycling Behaviour: A Meta-Analytical Review

“…These factors are observed to form a bridge between predicting factors and barriers to waste recycling behaviours. As identified from the reviewed studies, these factors include Awareness [70,81]; Beliefs [52,66]; Environmental benefits & values [37,47,51,69]; Feedback [52,62]; Goal Setting [33,62]; Incentives & rewards [38,44]; Prompts/information/Signage [48,[56][57][58]70]; Proximity/Convenience [34,75]; Social (subjective & descriptive) norms [40,50,[53][54][55]; Organisation commitment [34,45]; Infrastructure (availability, adequacy and appearance) [65,71]; Knowledge [48,56]; Moral obligation/norms [54,61]; Personal benefits and values [37,58], and Culture (individualism and collectivism) [55]. While most of these factors are mainly extraneous in nature, the endurance of such extrinsic factors in reinforcing recycling behaviours over a long period of time is another challenge.…”