Predictors of Recycling Intentions among the Youth: A Developing Country Perspective

Pradipta Halder,Harminder Singh

doi:10.3390/recycling3030038

Abstract

India is currently facing a mounting challenge related to municipal waste management, due to an increasing urban population, and their high consumption lifestyles. India also has the world’s highest number of young people in the 10–24 years age group. The study applied the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) model to predict school students’ recycling intentions in Delhi, the capital of India and one of the highest producers of municipal solid wastes in the country. Data were collected from a school in New Delhi and the sample size consisted of 272 students from 9th and 10th grades. The TPB model explained 56% of the variance in the students’ intentions to recycling. The predictor ‘subjective norm’ appeared to have the strongest impact on the students’ recycling intentions, followed by ‘attitude’ and ‘perceived behavioural control’. It indicated that social factors are driving the Indian youth’s recycling intentions. It is important that the policymakers promote recycling as a social trend in India and provide adequate facilities to the public so that they can participate in recycling activities without facing difficulties. Schools also have a role in increasing students’ awareness of recycling and motivating them to participate in household waste management practices.

Highlights

Recycling of ever-increasing urban waste has become a priority for sustainable environmental management and planning activities in both developed and developing countries
Intentions of recycling was exceptional considering many studies reported Attitude as the strongest predictor of individuals’ recycling intentions. This exception perhaps appeared due to the formulation of some of the items under the construct Attitude, which was somewhat different from the definition of Attitude given by Azjen [44]. These findings indicated that the social pressure would be driving Indian students’ recycling intentions followed by their attitudes to recycling and their perceived ease of carrying out recycling activities
It can be said that the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) model was able to explain school students’ intentions of recycling in the Indian context

Summary

Introduction

Recycling of ever-increasing urban waste has become a priority for sustainable environmental management and planning activities in both developed and developing countries. The current trend shows that the MSW-generation per capita has been growing steadily in the low and middle-income countries, whereas it has been gradually stabilising in the developed economies [2]. Unmanaged urban wastes affect biogeochemical cycles from local to global scales and hazardous wastes are dangerous to the living organisms including humans [3,4,5]. Inadequate management of MSW has become a global concern that affects the quality of life in urban areas in many countries especially in the developing nations [6,7]

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Discussion

Conclusion