Barriers to household waste recycling: empirical evidence from South Africa

Abstract

A small percentage of South Africans regularly recycle most of their recyclables, which was only 4% and 7.2% in 2010 and 2015, respectively. This empirical quantitative study, the first study on this scale in South Africa, aimed to ascertain the reasons why people do not recycle. This paper reports the results from a survey conducted among a representative sample of 2004 respondents in eleven of South Africa’s large urban areas. Each respondent selected three main reasons why people do not recycle from ten possible options as well as the one main reason. The results show that (i) insufficient space, (ii) no time, (iii) dirty and untidiness associated with recycling, (iv) lack of recycling knowledge, and (v) inconvenient recycling facilities are perceived as the main reasons why people do not recycle. Non-recycling households (74% of the respondents) give high priority to time and knowledge. Low recyclers—those that sporadically recycle few items—and young South Africans give high priority to services (inconvenient facilities and no curbside collection). Lack of knowledge is an important factor for people from dense settlements as well as the unemployed looking for work. Improved recycling services such as regular curbside collections have the potential to overcome time and space barriers. Recycling services as well as recycling knowledge will have to improve to encourage the youth, the unemployed, and those living in informal areas to recycle and realize the opportunities locked in the waste sector. The perceptions of respondents from non-recycling households differ from those from recycling households. The larger representation of non-recyclers in developing countries emphasize the importance of understanding local evidence when comparing and implementing results from developed countries. The learning from this study could also assist other developing countries to encourage household participation in recycling initiatives.