Commingled Versus Separated Curbside Recycling

Household curbside recycling behavior was observed in two similar, adjacent cities. In one, all recyclables were mixed together, and in the other, four types of materials were separated. As predicted, the commingled program achieved a higher average weekly participation rate (58% vs. 42%), and more households participated at least once in 8 consecutive weeks (90%o vs. 77%/6). The commingled program also generated more gallons of recyclables (32.1 vs. 5.5 per household per week). In the city with the commingled program, there was a significant level of consistency in the frequency of household recycling participation across a 2-year period (r= .45); overall participation remained over 90%h for that period. High, medium, and low socioeconomic residential areas in both cities displayed some significant differences in participation and quantity recycled. Surprisingly, areas with volunteer recycling block leaders did not have higher levels of participation than comparable areas without block leaders.