Despite the societal importance of reusing waste materials, few empirical studies have specifically examined recycling behaviors as differentiated from attitudes and intentions. This paper reviews the empirical studies of recycling, summarizes research findings, and identifies areas for future research. The effects on recycling behavior of both personal variables (personality, demographics, and...

This paper examines our understanding of recycling behaviour in the context of its increasing normalisation in the UK. It reflects on the recent history of dry recycling (i.e. recycling of ‘dry’ materials such as paper, glass, plastics and cans) and asks the question as to what influence policy drivers and the increased provision of facilities for recycling have had on people’s behaviour. In re...

The challenges brought on by the increasing complexity of electronic products, and the criticality of the materials these devices contain, present an opportunity for maximizing the economic and societal benefits derived from recovery and recycling. Small appliances and computer devices (SACD), including mobile phones, contain significant amounts of precious metals including gold and platinum, t...

This project evaluated the cost effectiveness and feasibility for recycling of renewable resources and disposing of non-recyclable materials generated in the perfusion department of an open heart surgery program. Forty-one adult and pediatric open heart cases were randomly assigned to participate as the control or the recycling group. The control group had no separation of materials. In the rec...

The transition to low carbon infrastructure systems required to meet climate change mitigation targets will involve an unprecedented roll-out of technologies reliant upon materials not previously widespread in infrastructure. Many of these materials (including lithium and rare earth metals) are at risk of supply disruption. To ensure the future sustainability and resilience of infrastructure, c...

Packaging waste accounted for 78.81 million tons or 31.6% of the total municipal solid waste (MSW) in 2003 in the USA, 56.3 million tons or 25% of the MSW in 2005 in Europe, and 3.3 million tons or 10% of the MSW in 2004 in Australia. Currently, in the USA the dominant method of packaging waste disposal is landfill, followed by recycling, incineration, and composting. Since landfill occupies va...

The increasing awareness of environment protection had made the European Union request the enterprises, through legislation (such as WEEE, RoHS and EuP), to take the responsibility to minimize the environmental impact. Directive of WEEE stresses that producers are responsible for the collection and recycling of all electrical and electronic waste. This paper focuses on how manufacturers can mee...

Construction solid waste has caused serious environmental problems. Reuse, recycling and reduction of construction materials have been advocated for many years, and various methods have been investigated. However, the effectiveness of its applications seems limited. This paper examines rates of reusable and recyclable waste for six major types of building materials: plastic, paper, timber, meta...

Prebiotic chemical reactions would have been greatly aided by a process whereby living materials could have been recycled under conditions of limiting resources. Recombination of RNA fragments is a viable means of recycling but has not been demonstrated. Using systems based on the Azoarcus group I intron ribozyme, computational Monte Carlo studies indicate that a moderate level of recycling act...