Exploring the influence of contextual and sociodemographic factors on waste prevention behaviour - the case of Campinas, Brazil

摘要

Despite being widely recognised as a sustainable way to reduce waste generation, the implementation of prevention policies has been far from successful. Unlike recycling, waste prevention depends on the interplay of different behaviours, motivations, and structural conditions. Increasing people's engagement in waste prevention depends on identifying the direct and indirect impacts on behavioural costs and promoting long-term behavioural change. This study analyses the individuals' behaviour in Campinas to compare, through an integrated method, their engagement level on pro-environmental and waste prevention actions, considering sociodemographic factors and the local context. A questionnaire survey was conducted for 14 months with a final sample of 888 respondents. Among the 20 most difficult actions, 25% were waste-related, and 20% were linked to consumption behaviours. Results also show a significant interference of age and contextual factors in facilitating or hindering pro-environmental and waste prevention actions. House type, for example, can be considered a precondition to implement home composting, but it is not decisive. Waste prevention behaviour is composed of mostly private actions hidden from monitoring processes. These findings show that expensive structural improvements can be outperformed by implementing specific educational programs that address social aspects.