How Can We Increase the Rate At Which Individuals Recycle Using Behavioral Heuristics?

Abstract

Recycling in most people’s minds is the act of creating new commodities from old and unusable materials which would otherwise become waste. Recycling involves intricate processes and rigorous planning by local, national, and international authorities and may take a lot of time to implement. However, there are instances where the “recycling infrastructure” is present, but individuals do not partake in the process—which is the most critical step. In this paper, behavioral economics heuristics of status quo bias, choice overload, and framing effect will be utilized to explain why individuals do not recycle when they are given the opportunity and resources to do so, and similarly, solutions will be presented which involve said heuristics.