The Effects of Public Commitment and Group Feedback on Curbside Recycling

Abstract

This study examined the effects of three community interventions that rely on socially mediated consequences, rather than financial incentives, to promote consumer recycling. Households in the commitment-only group signed a letter making a public commitment to recycle and giving permission to publish their names in a local newspaper. The feedback-only group received weekly feedback on pounds of recyclable paper generated by their group. A combined-intervention group received a combination of the two previous interventions. Relative to baseline, the feedback-only and the combined-intervention groups increased the weight of recyclable paper by 25.47% and 40.00%, respectively. In contrast, neither the commitment-only group nor a no-intervention control group showed substantial changes over the same period. The implications of these interventions for developing community-wide recycling programs are discussed.