Changes in Household Recycling Behavior : Evidence from Panel Data

This article analyzes changes in recycling behavior using a longitudinal national U.S. dataset with over 235,000 pairs of same-household observations to measure changes in recycling behavior. Changes in recycling are greater if others in the county increased their recycling rates. Policies that encourage recycling through changes in deposit laws, more stringent state recycling laws, or new availability of single-stream recycling also increase recycling. There are increased recycling rates for cans, glass, and plastic when the market prices for the returned materials increase. Some shocks to the household can diminish recycling, including marriage, the arrival of a newborn, and either large positive or large negative changes in income. Political factors are also consequential, as recycling declines if the state legislature becomes Republican. The estimates for the total number of materials that a household recycles and the recycling of particular materials follow similar patterns