Marketing, Recycling, and Climate Change: An Opportunity

Abstract

This article is the outcome of a semester-long course project initiated in the spring 2020 offering of Economics of Sustainability, an economics elective at Northeastern University. The course, which has no prerequisite in economics, is interdisciplinary and highlights the relationship between the present domestic economic system and the sustainability of observable economic outcomes. Course participants worked together to create a 19-question survey instrument, which was administered by class members to individuals both on and in the vicinity of Northeastern University's campus in Boston, Massachusetts. Survey respondents (277) ranged from 18 to 25 years of age, with an average age of 20.7 years. The survey responses provided an opportunity to assess the relationship between pro-environmental behavior and specific awareness and knowledge of characteristics related to the environment. The survey outcomes also provided insight into the relationship between recycling action and climate change perceptions, which is the focus of this article. Survey respondents generally had a strong inclination toward recycling but lacked an understanding of the efficiency of recycling. Given the respondents' sensitivity toward climate change relative to their recycling bias, the results highlight a potential opportunity to promote lasting behavioral change through an educational marketing plan and related convenient access to climate change mitigation and adaptation activities.