title: Development and analysis of a community-based resource recovery program.
abstract: Five studies were conducted over a 10-month period to determine the effectiveness of specific procedures in encouraging recycling among residential neighborhoods. Results indicated that: (a) initial levels of participation in neighborhoods were frequently related to housing values; (b) weekly recycling pick-ups that coincided with garbage collection days resulted in higher levels of participation than pick-ups that occurred at other times; (c) notifying homes about the recycling program through distributed door-to-door brochures was more effective than soliciting participation through newspaper ads; (d) distributing containers to help residents separate recyclable from nonrecyclable material proved to be an effective procedure, especially when combined with frequent prompting (prompting alone did not have much effect); and (e) procedures that facilitated the greatest levels of participation were not always cost-effective. The subsequent combination of these procedures into a package program resulted in high levels of neighborhood participation that were cost-effective and maintained over a 6-month period.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA School of Medicine, Florida State University.
authors.forename: H E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Jacobs
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Bailey
authors.forename: J I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Crews