Investigating the influencing factors of incentive-based household waste recycling using structural equation modelling

Characterisation of household single-use packaging flows through a municipal waste system: A material flow analysis for New South Wales, Australia

Household single-use packaging has poor rates of recycling, and presents a challenge in transitioning to a circular packaging economy. This study characterises the flows of household single-use packaging in the municipal waste system for 2020-21 in New South Wales, Australia. Households are an important source of packaging usage in Australia, accounting for over 40 % of all packaging used in 2020-21. Our focus spans 17 single-use packaging materials and 11 formats. We estimate the composition of single-use consumer packaging in the kerbside collection stream, and the ultimate fate of used packaging. Results show 1000 ± 8 % kt of packaging was used by households in NSW in 2020-21 (∼123 kg/cap). Composition of the used packaging stream was dominated by glass (36 %), paper (29 %) and plastic (28 %) packaging. HDPE (26 % of plastic packaging), LDPE (24 %) and PET (19 %) were the main polymers in use. 63 % ± 5 % of used packaging was collected for recycling, and 34 % ± 7 % was recovered via recyclate generation and overseas exports. Glass packaging had the highest recycling rates at 52 % ± 3 %, while plastic packaging had the poorest at 11 % ± 10 %. Findings indicate incorrect disposal of recyclables at the household to mixed-waste systems as a major limitation of the system to improve recycling rates. Expansion in recovery capacity is also essential for improving recycling rates, and the potential for generating the packaging-grade recyclate essential for meeting recycled content targets. The study offers contributions to the understanding of consumer packaging managed within the municipal waste system. Insights gained have application in informing sustainable packaging and waste management strategies.

Civic sense and its contribution to recycling activities: Evidence from Italy

This article studies from a conceptual, theoretical and empirical point of view the link between civic sense and recycling activities in Italy related to the years 1998, 2012, 2018, 2019. It establishes a link among the concepts of civic sense, whose essential components are behaviours, attitudes and interactions, with it being a typical traditional theoretical approach with perfectly rational and perfectly informed agents, along with a standard empirical analyses on the determinants of (household) waste recycling. Starting from a game-theoretic model of contribution with particular features related to the objective function of agents and a heterogeneity in their costs, the article aims to highlight how certain theoretical results get together with empirical evidence. In the empirical analysis, using the micro-data of a "Multipurpose Survey on Households" provided by the Italian National Statistical Office and an ordered probit model, the article finds a positive, robust and stable correlation between civic sense and household recycling activities The findings show that a higher civic sense is related to an increase in household recycling activities, respectively, of 1.2 percentage points in 1998, 4.3 percentage points in 2012, and 3.8 percentage points in both 2018 and 2019.

Japanese public perceptions on smart bin potential to support PAYT systems

Smart bins can increase transparency and accuracy in monitoring waste characteristics such as weight, volume, and disposal times. This information can aid in enforcing waste reduction policies, including the pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) system. However, the public's response to this technology remains uncertain. Despite Japan's reputation for high waste separation compliance and collection rates, it has one of the world's highest per capita rates of plastic and packaging waste generation. This study surveyed 1000 Japanese individuals regarding their perception of smart bin features and their potential to encourage waste reductions. Multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) was used to explore the relationships between respondents' social attributes and their responses. The findings indicate a slightly higher responses from younger respondents (above 85 % of those age 10-29 compared to around 75 % of those aged 60 and older) who were in favour of smart bin technology functions such as unscheduled waste pick up and automatized waste separation. On the other hand, there was a strong unwillingness (0.57 count ratio) to reduce plastic waste even if a smart bin assisted PAYT is introduced from those who did not engage in waste separation and cleaning in the first place. Finally, an open-ended question about strategies to reduce plastic waste resulted in a large portion of mindset change ideas (24.8 % of the female respondents) and technology innovations proposals (24 % of male respondents). Although development of a smart-bin prototype is taking place, behavioral change strategies to foster a willingness to reduce waste must take place along with technological interventions.

Uncovering environmental performance patterns of plastic packaging waste in high recovery rate countries: An example of EU-27

Plastic consumption and its end-of-life management pose a significant environmental footprint and are energy intensive. Waste-to-resources and prevention strategies have been promoted widely in Europe as countermeasures; however, their effectiveness remains uncertain. This study aims to uncover the environmental footprint patterns of the plastics value chain in the European Union Member States (EU-27) through exploratory data analysis with dimension reduction and grouping. Nine variables are assessed, ranging from socioeconomic and demographic to environmental impacts. Three clusters are formed according to the similarity of a range of characteristics (nine), with environmental impacts being identified as the primary influencing variable in determining the clusters. Most countries belong to Cluster 0, consisting of 17 countries in 2014 and 18 countries in 2019. They represent clusters with a relatively low global warming potential (GWP), with an average value of 2.64 t CO2eq/cap in 2014 and 4.01 t CO2eq/cap in 2019. Among all the assessed countries, Denmark showed a significant change when assessed within the traits of EU-27, categorised from Cluster 1 (high GWP) in 2014 to Cluster 0 (low GWP) in 2019. The analysis of plastic packaging waste statistics in 2019 (data released in 2022) shows that, despite an increase in the recovery rate within the EU-27, the GWP has not reduced, suggesting a rebound effect. The GWP tends to increase in correlation with the higher plastic waste amount. In contrast, other environmental impacts, like eutrophication, abiotic and acidification potential, are identified to be mitigated effectively via recovery, suppressing the adverse effects of an increase in plastic waste generation. The five-year interval data analysis identified distinct clusters within a set of patterns, categorising them based on their similarities. The categorisation and managerial insights serve as a foundation for devising a focused mitigation strategy.

A cross-jurisdictional comparison on residential waste collection rates during earlier waves of COVID-19

There is currently a lack of studies on residential waste collection during COVID-19 in North America. SARIMA models were developed to predict residential waste collection rates (RWCR) across four North American jurisdictions before and during the pandemic. Unlike waste disposal rates, RWCR is relatively less sensitive to the changes in COVID-19 regulatory policies and administrative measures, making RWCR more appropriate for cross-jurisdictional comparisons. It is hypothesized that the use of RWCR in forecasting models will help us to better understand the residential waste generation behaviors in North America. Both SARIMA models performed satisfactorily in predicting Regina's RWCR. The SARIMA DCV model's performance is noticeably better during COVID-19, with a 15.7% lower RMSE than that of the benchmark model (SARIMA BCV). The skewness of overprediction ratios was noticeably different between jurisdictions, and modeling errors were generally lower in less populated cities. Conflicting behavioral changes might have altered the residential waste generation characteristics and recycling behaviors differently across the jurisdictions. Overall, SARIMA DCV performed better in the Canadian jurisdiction than in U.S. jurisdictions, likely due to the model's bias on a less variable input dataset. The use of RWCR in forecasting models helps us to better understand the residential waste generation behaviors in North America and better prepare us for a future global pandemic.

Household waste management in Singapore and Shanghai: Experiences, challenges and opportunities from the perspective of emerging megacities

Due to rapid economic development and urbanisation, emerging megacities with dense populations have witnessed a significant increase in waste generation. Megacities face challenges in developing sustainable waste management systems. Considerable heterogeneity exists across megacities in management strategies. The two selected emerging megacities, Singapore (a city-state) and Shanghai, have similar developmental characteristics, but their waste management modes differ strikingly. This study assessed the two modes in terms of management strategies, environmental effects, economic costs, and social outcomes. Environmental footprint analysis and cost quantification were employed for the assessment based on public data. The research results would permit a deeper understanding of the long-term sustainability of each mode while considering the feasibility of implementation across different contexts. It was found that the waste management system in Singapore had a relatively lower environmental impact than Shanghai before Shanghai's new waste segregation and recycling policy in 2019. However, when the effect of fossil fuel substitution is taken into account, the environmental burden in Shanghai can be lowered more substantially than the one in Singapore. Although Shanghai had more economic burden for the waste segregation at source, it tended to implement the circular economy principles (e.g., reduce, reuse, and recycling) better and improve its sense of community significantly. Based on the practical experiences from the two representative megacities, suggestions for better waste management practices were provided for Singapore, Shanghai, and other emerging megacities with similar circumstances. In addition, challenges and opportunities related to household waste segregation and recycling were identified to guide future practices in emerging megacities.