Factors influence household solid waste recycling behaviour in Thailand: An integrated perspective

Abstract

The achievement of recycling programs depends essentially on the active and sustained involvement of people. In order to investigate factors that influence households' decision to participate in recycling programs, this research applied directed interviews, observations, and questionnaire surveys to study recycling behavior of 381 randomly selected individuals in Bangkok. The study employed the theory of planed behavior as the main framework and injected sociodemographic, economic, and situational factors into the model to examine how these factors integrate to either stimulate or restrain recycling involvement of people. The results of the estimated logistic regression models suggested that the adequacy of information regarding recycling and resident period in the current place directly predicted recycling behavior, whereas the condition of recycling facility and personal recycling skill provided both a direct effect on the actual behavior and an indirect effect via recycling intention. In contrast, the psychological factors; attitude toward recycling, subjective norm, and awareness of recycling benefit, only indirectly influenced recycling behavior through the intention. The economic incentive, perceived efforts on time and space, and other demographic variables were not found significant in both levels. © 2011 WIT Press.