Abstract
Waste source separation is the fundamental premise to ensure effective waste recycling. Whether the entire waste recycling and reduction process can be effectively carried out depends on the waste source separation. Clarifying the driving mechanism of waste separation behavior plays an important role in effectively guiding the urban residents’ waste separation behavior and achieving waste recycling. In this study, qualitative analysis was used to explore the driving mechanism of waste separation behavior. Through the open coding, axial coding and selective coding of the in-depth interview data collected from 323 Chinese urban residents, the study has proposed and verified the four-dimensional structure of waste separation behavior, namely, waste separation behavior of habit, decision, relationship, and citizen. The main driving factors of urban residents’ waste separation behavior have been clarified. On this basis, a theoretical model for the driving mechanism of waste separation behavior was constructed in this study. Ten main categories of factors have been presented, namely, value orientation, cognition of separation, regulatory focus, preferences for comfort, perception of separation empowerment, policy and standards, products and facilities, group norms, links trustworthiness, and social demography variables. Moreover, four typical relationship structures were proposed. Finally, the intervention policy suggestions were made to effectively guide the urban residents’ waste separation behavior.
Highlights
Municipal solid waste (MSW) refers to solid waste generated in daily life or activities which provide services for daily life
In the process of waste management, urban residents who are the source of waste generation and treatment classify and collect the waste according to the specified categories and put it in the designated places
The purpose of this study is to study the driving mechanism of urban residents’ waste separation behavior
Summary
Municipal solid waste (MSW) refers to solid waste generated in daily life or activities which provide services for daily life. It refers to solid waste that is defined as domestic waste by laws and administrative regulations (Chen et al 2018) [1]. It mainly comes from family houses, public places, commercial departments, public institutions, etc. The waste generated in family houses is a dominant part, accounting for about 60% of the total amount of MSW (Du et al 2006) [3]. The total waste generated in China is large in amount and it increases year by year. In 2006, the total national waste output was 148.414 million tons It increased to 203.62 million tons in 2016. The 2016 Annual Report on Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid
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