Increasing Individual Participation in Recycling

This paper examines stagnant recycling rates in the U.S. and explores what actions can be taken to improve them. It seeks to answer the question: what can be done to increase the likelihood that an individual would participate in a recycling program? Through a series of informal interviews and online research, the author identified the underlying issues. They involved both the psychological and physical aspects that are involved in the act of recycling, concluding that recycling must be made simpler by addressing both physical and mental effort perceived. At the conclusion of the paper, the author details a concept for the creation of a dual trash/recycling container that should significantly increase household recycling.