Research pick: Recycling children: Teaching youngsters to follow a sustainable path - "Recycling behaviour of people in South Africa"

Research in the International Journal of Environment and Waste Management has shed light on the behaviour of households in Claremont, a suburb of Cape Town, South Africa, when it comes to recycling as a sustainable means of waste management revealing that about two-thirds of households do not recycle waste. The results suggest that there is a long way to go in this typical suburb, and perhaps many others, to improve recycling facilities and opportunities and education.

R.O. Anyasi and H.I. Atagana of the University of South Africa in Pretoria conducted a survey of 400 households, selected at random, in the area. The results showed that a majority of households, a staggering 67.3%, do not recycle generally recyclable waste materials. Recycling, of course, should be a key component of reducing the negative environmental impact of our everyday consumption of food and other products.

The researchers found that lack of basic recycling education and inadequate infrastructure are mainly to blame for the lack of interest and participation in recycling. Moreover, they analyzed the relationship between waste management interests and the recycling ability of individual households using Pearson correlation analysis. This showed a significant and positive relationship meaning that the minority of households with a greater interest in waste management were the ones that were more likely to recycle, as one might expect.

The study concludes that there is a need for more convenient recycling depots and environmental awareness campaigns to encourage more households to recycle in this region. This is a necessary part of moving society to a cleaner and more sustainable future. With more convenient recycling depots and greater awareness, households can become better equipped to manage waste sustainably and contribute to a cleaner future for everyone, the research suggests. The team points out that there is a high proportion of schoolchildren in households and it is this younger generation that might be addressed with educational resources to help flip that 67 to 33 ratio.

Anyasi, R.O. and Atagana, H.I. (2023) ‘Recycling behaviour of people in South Africa’, Int. J. Environment and Waste Management, Vol. 31, No. 3, pp.325–338.