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Abstract(s)
As the pressure that individuals exert on the environment is growing, there is an urgent need for action to revert the damage. Waste management is paramount for the ecosystem’s preservation and recycling represents a step towards the solution.
With Portugal falling behind on the packaging waste targets defined by the European Union, there is a critical need to take additional measures to incentivize individuals to recycle.
This dissertation aims at identifying the main factors that propel individuals’ recycling intentions and understand if Deposit-Return Schemes represent the needed incentive to increase them. Thereafter, to assess recycling intentions, this study applies the Theory of Planned Behavior enriched with contributions from the Model of Altruistic Behavior.
The data collection method employed consisted of an online questionnaire where respondents were exposed to one of two recycling systems: The Deposit-Return Scheme and the Current Recycling System. The results obtained showed that individuals’ intention to recycle is lower through the Deposit-Return Scheme than through the Current Recycling System. This outcome is strongly impacted by the perceived inconvenience and difficulty of going throw with this new procedure.
Findings also confirmed the literature that the decision of individuals to recycle is founded on the belief that is the right thing to do for the collective, and not on a conscious evaluation of the personal costs and benefits involved.
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Keywords
Deposit-return schemes Current recycling system Theory of planned behavior Model of altruistic behavior Recycling Packaging Packaging waste