Marketing Strategies to Motivate Participation in Municipal Recycling Programs.

摘要

The growing volume of solid waste is stressing landfill capacity and creating economic, environmental, and social detriments. Many residents are not motivated to reduce solid waste by recycling. To address the issue of limited motivation to recycle, the business problem was to explain the structural and behavioral barriers to recycling. The purpose of this qualitative, case study research was to explain the phenomena of motivation to participate in recycling programs among residents in four towns. Explanations to participate in recycling programs were guided by four theoretical foundations: (a) consumer behavior and the role of marketing, (b) theory of planned behavior, (c) teleological and deontological theories, and (d) the theory of consumer misbehavior. The primary research question involved explaining what marketing strategies would motivate residents to recycle at levels above the national average. Data were collected from 7 program decision-makers and 24 residents, using questionnaires and open-ended interviews. Data were coded, and HyperRESEARCH 3.0 software was used to analyze transcripts for word frequency and comparative phrases, themes, and patterns. The data analysis resulted in themes that encompassed how recycling programs would benefit from revised traffic flows, increased employee-resident engagement, modified promotional practices, and the development of marketing plans to guide new and existing recycling programs. The implications for positive social change are to improve financial performance of a tax-based system, provide a productive use of landfill spaces, and reduce water and soil contamination and greenhouse gases.