Which US municipalities adopt Pay-As-You-Throw and curbside recycling?

Abstract

This study investigates the drivers of curbside recycling program adoption and Pay as You Throw (PAYT) program adoption in 1,856 US local governments using a 2015 survey. While 50% of municipalities and counties adopt curbside recycling programs, we find that the adoption of curbside recycling is limited by capacity constraints; local governments with lower per capita public expenditures and more poverty are less likely to implement curbside recycling. PAYT programs are less common overall (10% of municipalities) and less common in richer communities and more common in communities with higher education levels. Local official political affiliation is not significant in either model. Both programs are less likely in rural places. Our results point to the need for local governments adopting such innovations to address equity, capacity constraints, and efficiency concerns.

How Does Social Capital Affect Residents’ Waste-Separation Behavior? Evidence from China

“…Men’s probability of “never segregating waste” is 0.031 higher than women’s, and men are 0.014 less likely to segregate waste often. Besides, it is generally believed that more educated individuals are more sensitive to social welfare and would exhibit more pro-environmental behaviors [ 46 , 53 , 54 ]. As seen in Table 4 , compared to illiterate respondents, the probability of “often segregating waste” is on average 0.016 times higher for those who have attended primary school, 0.039 times higher for the group who have attended junior high school, 0.065 times higher for those who have attended high school, and 0.071 times higher for those with a college degree or above.…”

Are Bottle Banks Sufficiently Effective for Increasing Glass Recycling Rates?

“…This share increased substantially from 16 percent in 1999 [4]. This is different to the United States, where in 2015, only 10% of municipalities had unit-based pricing or pay-as-youthrow [5].…”

Exploring environmental sustainability of academia as a working space

“…In addition, some studies suggest that individuals supporting conservative ideologies were less likely to support policies to bolster sustainability compared to liberal-oriented individuals (Ziegler, 2017). Conversely, Gradus et al (2019), suggested that local political affiliation did not play a role in adopting a pay-as-you-go recycling program that helps increase recycling efficiency. Future exploration is needed to further understand this finding and identify whether this discrepancy could be due to liberal states being more in favor of sustainability policies compared to conservative states.…”